Knight and Day
by TuxedoMask2011
Summary: Part 4 of my saga! Crystal Tokyo is still in its early stages and the Sailor team are hard at work protecting it and bringing the Earth into a new era of peace. However, a mysterious new enemy appears and unleashes their worst nightmare!
1. Prologue

Prologue

Before the world that we know today existed there was a time long ago when our galaxy enjoyed a time of great peace. Approximately ten thousand years ago the nine planets of the Milky Way Solar System were united in a cosmic alliance. Each of the planets was inhabited by a vast civilization with technology and wisdom that far exceeded anything that we would have in today's society.

This period of time would come to be known as the Silver Millennium and had been in existence for well over a thousand years. Across the span of the solar system, the planets and their inhabitants enjoyed the beneficial trading and co-operation that had become common practice in their everyday lives and each of the different civilizations prospered to a significant degree as a result.

On each planet of the Silver Millennium there was a kingdom with a ruling family. On each planet, the king and queen of each kingdom communicated with the governing body that oversaw all that took place in the solar system. This central kingdom was located on the moon of the third planet known as Earth. The Royal Family of the Moon Kingdom consisted of the wise and fair Queen Serenity and her compassionate and free-spirited daughter Princess Serenity.

Queen Serenity possessed the Silver Crystal, which was the most powerful magical artifact in the known universe. She used the crystal only in defence of her kingdom and allied planets and never for trivial or petty tasks. To assist her, the Queen had many advisors in her court including the two talking cats, Luna and Artemis, to help her deal with the daily issues that constantly plagued her kingdom and the planetary alliance.

Princess Serenity, in turn, had her own group of advisors who also acted as her personal guardians and best friends. These guardians were actually the princesses from several of the planets in the solar system. Unlike the future princesses of Earth, the princesses of the planetary kingdoms during the Silver Millennium were not merely ceremonial figure heads but were actually given very important duties.

The princess' chosen for the sacred and honoured duty of protecting and advising Princess Serenity were from the four planets closest to the Sun—Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter. In addition, the four princesses of the Outer Solar System, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn and Pluto, were tasked with protecting the galaxy from any outside threats and invasions from alien or extra-dimensional beings. To ensure stability, the Moon Kingdom itself had taken on many important responsibilities to ensure the continued peace and stability of the strong planetary alliance. Among its many duties was the supervision over the still developing human race on planet Earth.

The Earth Kingdom was united in it's entirely with none of the national borders or different territories that would later appear during the second age of humanity. Everyone worked together to complete the tasks that needed to be done regardless of creed, race or gender, for the betterment of the human race. Its ruling family that watched over the kingdom consisted of only one person, Prince Endyimon. He had assumed the role of sole ruler after his mother and father passed away after contracting a deadly disease. He did not want to take his much loved father's role and preferred to remain in his current role of prince of Earth.

The Prince had as his friends and trusted advisors, the Four Kings of Heaven, Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite and Kunzite. They were most powerful warriors in the kingdom and each of them put their complete trust in the kind heartedness of their master and his noble intentions for the continued progression of the human species and their kingdom.

As a mandatory condition of Earth's entry into the planetary alliance the Prince had requested that no human female be taken to be a guardian for Princess Serenity. His reasoning behind this decision was that he did not want to put any of his subjects in harm's way and it was not his place to force one of his people into a life of burden and possible danger. Queen Serenity firmly insisted that Earth must at least have a chosen protector but they would not be one of the Princess Serenity's guardians. Prince Endyimon agreed to that term and proceeded to volunteer himself rather than ask someone else to shoulder that responsibility.

The Prince's personal nomination and Queen Serenity's acceptance of it caused some controversy among the Silver Millennium`s inhabitants because males were forbidden from becoming guardians to the Princess as well as hold the title of Sailor Soldier. It was for those reasons that no Sailor Earth was ever created during the Silver Millennium or in the eons that followed. They were also the basis of why the Princess of Jupiter was selected to be the fourth guardian of Princess Serenity.

Near the end of the Silver Millennium a malevolent amorphous entity that came to be known as Queen Metalia erupted from somewhere inside the Sun's core and appeared on Earth. This spirit's evil nature began to infect the hearts of the people of the Earth Kingdom by preying on the deep resentment they had inside their hearts towards the citizens of the Moon Kingdom, known as Lunarians, because of their extended lifespans. Queen Metalia also fed off the anger the humans had towards their ruler because it had been widely rumoured that Prince Endyimon had fallen in love with Princess Serenity.

It was expressly forbidden for Earthlings and Lunarians to be romantically together for reasons that had long since been forgotten. That single act of betrayal from their prince, whether it was true or not, mixed with the existing jealousy the humans possessed and provided the perfect environment for Metalia to exert its full and powerful influence over them.

It corrupted a wise sage by the name of Beryl, who was the chief advisor to Prince Endyimon. This particular position in the kingdom had given her a large amount of political influence over the realm's people and complete control over the Earth Kingdom's armies. Beryl's first act as Metalia's servant was to crown herself Queen and use its power to brain-wash the Four Kings of Heaven to act as her generals along with the servant Metalia had personally created for Beryl Apachite, who was to be her Grand General.

Once the Earth Kingdom was completely under her thrall it was at that point that Beryl launched an attack on the Moon Kingdom during one of the many formal balls that were often held in the Moon Castle. During the festivities, the people of the Moon Kingdom were caught completely off-guard and quickly fell under the onslaught of the invading forces of the now newly named "Dark Kingdom". In defence of the Moon Kingdom, the Princess' four guardians engaged Beryl's strongest warrior the Ultimate Shadow but were easily defeated and killed by one of its powerful energy blasts.

The Outer Sailors, having been recalled by Queen Serenity from their posts on their home planets, battled the advancing enemy soldiers to no avail. With the final defeat of the Inner Sailors the Ultimate Shadow began to lay waste to what still remained of the Moon Kingdom. At the rate of the destruction it was causing even if the Outer Sailors were able to halt the enemy's advance and finally defeat them, it would still be considered a pyrrhic victory. Sensing that all was lost Sailor Saturn, the most powerful of the Outer Sailors, decided that it was best to cut their losses and erase the Dark Kingdom from existence and in the process, erase any trace of Moon Kingdom or the Silver Millennium. She reasoned that it was better to do that rather than let their enemy continue on and attack other innocent people or planets. She raised her Silence Glaive and began to preform her Death Reborn Revolution attack. Large yellow energy ribbons formed in the sky directly above her which acted as the signals for the beginning of the end of the Moon Kingdom.

Meanwhile, at that exact moment in another part of the Moon Kingdom, Queen Serenity had just witnessed her only daughter, Princess Serenity and her lover, Prince Endyimon, get killed by a blast from the Ultimate Shadow. This single act, the loss of her daughter was the final straw for the kind-hearted queen. She raised the Crescent Moon Wand that had the Silver Crystal embedded in it. She knew that she had two options: destroy the Dark Kingdom and doom all the fallen members of her kingdom to the emptiness of death or seal Queen Metalia and all her servants away so that her people could be one day be reborn in the planet Earth's future and have a second chance to live in peace.

Her love and grief for her daughter made the choice an easy one for her. She chose to seal the evil ones away and send her kingdom's population to the future. She held back her tears of sadness as she mentally and physically prepared herself for her own impending death which would be the price in order to use the Silver Crystal to the extent needed to fulfill her wishes. It was common knowledge that The Silver Crystal would tax her body beyond its physical limitations and ultimately kill her in the end.

The crystal began to glow as the power stored inside it rapidly built up. It collected the energy that it needed from to carry out its master's final wishes. When the correct level of force was finally reached the ground around Queen Serenity began to rumble and shake. At the same time bright flashes of light and balls of concentrated energy sprung out of the Silver Crystal and moved across the remnants of the Moon Kingdom. All of the Dark Kingdom's forces stopped dead in their tracks and began to scream and panic as they immediately begin to feel their bodies being physically and violently sucked inside the body of the powerful Silver Crystal. After about two minutes all that remained of the Dark Kingdom's invading force was the Ultimate Shadow that still hovered high above the Moon Castle.

The crystal switched its offensive tactic in order to deal with the Dark Kingdom's greatest monster. With the majority of the Dark Kingdom's forces now sealed away which included Metalia itself the Ultimate Shadow's power had begun to rapidly weaken. This sudden drop in strength caused it to immediately stop its devastating rampage of destruction across the Moon Kingdom and more specifically the Moon Castle. With the monster now stationary for the moment the Silver Crystal began the task of encasing all the fallen members of the Moon Kingdom in hundreds of golden energy bubbles. One by one the simmering semi-transparent spheres slowly floated upwards and began their long journey towards Earth.

As she watched the orbs containing her subjects leave to start their new lives on the beautiful blue planet that she had watched over for decades Queen Serenity's final act was to turn her attention back to the Ultimate Shadow and trap it inside the crystal with the rest of the Dark Kingdom. She knew this would take the last bit of her physical strength but she had no choice. Even in its present state it was still far too dangerous to roam free. She raised the Crescent Moon Wand one last time and the crystal shot three large spheres of concentrated energy up at it. In a last act of defiance, the monster roared as it was split into the seven smaller monsters that comprised it. Without wasting a second, the Silver Crystal immediately sucked the smaller creatures safely inside it with the rest of the Dark Kingdom's followers. Immediately after that the crystal itself broke apart into seven small shards of various colours and quickly vanished from sight into the Earth's atmosphere. These seven pieces of the Silver Crystal would later come to be known as the Seven Rainbow Crystals and would play a huge role in the millennia to come.

The very last thing Queen Serenity saw as she died was the trail of energy bubbles that contained her daughter, Prince Endyimon, and her fallen kingdom's subjects slowly drift towards Earth. Far away at the solar system's centre, the sun's yellow light reflected off the reflective surfaces of the orbs which made them twinkle and shine as they moved silently through space. She felt her hand drop and the Crescent Moon Wand slipped from her fingers. As it struck the ground the only survivors of the Dark Kingdom's attack, Luna and Artemis were encased in containment cylinders. They went into suspended animation as the cylinders floated upwards and followed the stream of energy orbs headings towards Earth.

Minutes earlier Sailor Saturn and the other Outer Sailors bared witness to the sealing of the Dark Kingdom by Queen Serenity but were unable to stop the destructive process that Sailor Saturn had already put into motion. Her ultimate attack reached its climax and an incredible wave of destructive energy shot out in all directions from her position. It instantly levelled any physical structures that were still standing and thoroughly wiped out all traces of the Moon Kingdom from existence. However, the annihilation wave did not stop there. It continued out into outer space as it followed any energy connection to the Moon Kingdom and struck the other planets of the Solar System. At an incredible speed, the devastating power of Sailor Saturn's attack spread over each of the planets' surfaces. In seemingly no time at all it effectively and completely destroyed each of the individual kingdoms on them. Only the planet Earth was spared since it now housed the Silver Crystal. This was due to the crystal's power being the only thing that surpassed Sailor Saturn's. None of the Outer Sailors did not see any of this as they were encased in the energy orbs at the same time the rest of the Moon Kingdom was and transported with them to Earth.

Ten millennia later the Dark Kingdom finally managed to release themselves from their prison and quickly began a campaign to rebuild what they felt they had lost through Queen Serenity's final actions. Apachite began to slowly plunge the world into chaos by causing global unrest in the forms of wars and economic turmoil as well as creating huge natural disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes to both kill and further distract the human race from the Dark Kingdom's other operations. Queen Beryl ordered her other generals, the Four Kings of Heaven, to begin collecting human energy so they could revive their ruler, Queen Metalia, to her full power.

Luna and Artemis were awakened from their long sleep by the Dark Kingdom's return and they began their task of searching for the reincarnated Sailor Soldiers who had been reborn into this time period by a new set of parents. Artemis managed to find the first one, a young girl named Minako Aino. Under his guidance and mentoring she battled a sub-organization of the Dark Kingdom known as the Dark Agency as the heroine Sailor V.

About a year after that Luna encountered first, Usagi Tsukino then Ami Mizuno, Rei Hino and finally Makoto Kino. These girls would become Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter respectively. During this same time period the newly re-formed Sailor team would gain two new powerful male allies: the mysterious Tuxedo Mask, who was actually the orphan, Mamoru Chiba, who lost his second set of parents in a car accident and the human-alien hybrid known as Carnage. Sailor V would also later join up with them and take her rightful place as Sailor Venus, the second in command of the Sailor team after Sailor Moon.

Together they battled the Dark Kingdom for almost a year before they were finally able to destroy Queens Metalia and Beryl and bring the threat they posed finally to an end for all time. Or so they had though. The past year had many surprises the two biggest ones were that Usagi was actually the reborn form of Princess Serenity and was given the power and disguise of a Sailor warrior in order to keep her safe from the Dark Kingdom as she battled them. In the same occurrence, the second surprise was that Tuxedo Mask was actually Prince Endyimon and Serenity's former beloved. When the final battle was over and the Dark Kingdom fell they all emerged victorious but at a very steep cost.

During the events leading up to the epic confrontation every single one of the Sailors and Prince Endyimon had been killed by the Dark Kingdom's forces until only Sailor Moon had remained. Using the Silver Crystal she was able to unleash its full power and defeat Queen Beryl before succumbing to the physical effects of such an incredible act just like her mother had. Her single dying wish was to go back and live as she had been one year earlier before she had become Sailor Moon.

The crystal granted her wish and in the process it revived her, all of her friends and Prince Endyimon to life but with no memories of any of the events of the past year. With the danger over; the rest of the world continued on as it normally did with only those six individuals affected by the last remnants of the Silver Crystal's power. Only Carnage, Luna and Artemis retained the memories of the Dark Kingdom since they had been outside the crystal's energy influence. Choosing to not complicate the girls' new lives with his presence Carnage chose to leave Japan and his love Makoto, to once again travel the globe and secretly protect it from the forces of evil alone.

However it would later become necessary for the Sailors to be needed again as new threats to the Earth emerged one after the other. Luna and Artemis re-awakened them and they began their lives as Sailor warriors anew. They battled first the Doom Tree who needed human life energy to survive and then the Prince of demons Gaap, shortly afterwards. It was during the struggle with Gaap that Carnage returned to Japan and rekindled his relationship with Makoto. Immediately following Gaap's final defeat circumstances beyond their control caused Carnage to leave Japan again with the promise that he would return and stay with Makoto permanently.

The Sailors had little time to rest after their battle with the demon lord as they were quickly thrown into the war with the Black Moon clan that arrived from the Earth's future. It was during this adventure that they learned of the future events to come and how they would all play a huge role in them. They were warned by Sailor Pluto that they could do nothing to stop the upcoming actions that would herald this new era for planet Earth but could only accept them as being part of something much bigger and ultimately beneficial for the planet's existence.

The appearance and ensuing war with the Death Busters marked the re-introduction of all of the Outer Sailors to their true identities and destinies as Sailor warriors. Sailor Pluto was the first as she made her appearance known to the Inner Sailors during the Black Moon war. She was followed by Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune and then finally, Sailor Saturn as they fought against the Death Busters. For reasons not yet revealed, the Outer Sailors chose not to participate in stopping the Dead Moon Circus for various reasons but later returned to assist in halting the ambitious campaign of Sailor Galaxia and her servants from conquering all of the known universes.

Like in the second battle with the Dark Kingdom all the Sailors were killed except for Sailor Moon and the Starlights, who were a trio of Sailor Warriors from another galaxy. Sailor Moon was able to reach the tiny sliver of goodness that was still inside Galaxia which gave her the strength that allowed her to expel the source of all evil Chaos, from her body. With Galaxia restored to her former benevolent self all the star seeds she had captured during her campaign, which were the internal power crystals located in all Sailor warriors or chosen guardians of planets and other outer space objects such as stars and asteroids, were released. This allowed the Sailor warriors of the Milky Way solar system to be revived as well as Prince Endyimon who had been killed since he was the representative of the planet Earth.

The Sailors enjoyed a few weeks of peace before trouble once again reared its head. As they were escorting Mamoru the civilian name of Prince Endyimon to the airport, they found themselves caught in a battle between an unknown monster and their newly returned friend and ally, Carnage. In an unrelated turn of events, the Outer Sailors were also at the airport and together, they were able to defeat the creature. It was then that Carnage told them all that something very bad was going coming and they needed to be prepared.

The Earth's main defence organization the Illuminati Council, had just been eliminated and he had been nearly killed in the process. He showed them a file folder that he had taken just before the building had been destroyed. Inside it, the file contained photos and information about secret meetings and operations conducted by servants of their ancient enemy the Dark Kingdom.

Using the intelligence from the file the Sailors broke into two teams. One team was to go to Canada to lead an assault on the Dark Kingdom's new base of operations and the other was to learn the connection between the Dark Kingdom and Rei's father, who was one of the people seen in the photographs. When all the pieces finally fell into place the Sailors learned that their enemy was in fact, Apachite, the last surviving general of the Dark Kingdom. However the biggest shock for them came when the second mastermind revealed himself. It turned out to be none other than Edward Ashford the leader of Carnage's former employer, the Illuminati Council. It both angered and surprised the Sailors to find out that a human being was responsible for this ultimate betrayal and for willingly leading everyone on the planet to slaughter.

In the end thou Apachite double-crossed everyone and launched his own attack. He had secretly managed to take control of Earth's nuclear and missile armaments using Edward Ashford's computer program and successfully carried out a crusade of death and destruction. However at the very last possible second, Sailor Moon used the Silver Moon Crystal, the evolved and more powerful form of the Silver Crystal, to encase the entire population of Earth in crystal cocoons. This protected everyone from the radiation, fires and shock waves that occurred as a result of the devastating nuclear holocaust. Following the desperate plea from Eternal Sailor Moon, the Silver Moon Crystal kept everyone in their protective shells while the Earth healed itself. They all waited approximately nine hundred years before the crystal first released Sailor Moon and everyone else, shortly thereafter.

As the Sailors and Carnage re-adjusted to being 'alive' again and the new world they now found themselves in they began to explore the land they had once known as Japan. During their travels they found other survivors who decided to follow them and enjoy the company of others in this strange new world.

A week after being restored to life Makoto and Sean, the human half of Carnage, found a huge geological formation while out scouting the terrain that struck a personal memory for Makoto. She raced back to collect the others and led them back to the specific spot. Upon seeing the seemingly impossible mountain of semi-transparent crystal the same memory flashed through each of their minds.

This was the same Crystal Palace that they had all seen when they had travelled to the future to battle the Black Moon clan. This was meant as a sign that this was the start of what the future king had called the Crystal Millennium and that the capital city of the new Earth Kingdom Crystal Tokyo, was to be built on that very spot.

End of Prologue…


	2. Protecting the Peace

Chapter 1

"Everyone take cover!"

Amid all the chaos that was going on in the remains of the large industrial warehouse the sudden warning still managed to reach all of the individuals the message was meant for. They all responded by taking cover behind anything that was currently around them. Some of them took refuge behind several of the large wooden boxes that were scattered around the open space of the storage facility while others ducked behind the corners of the walls that made up the offices or utility rooms of the dilapidating building located along the outside walls. As they all dove for cover the unmistakable sound of automatic gunfire ripped through the open air with loud thundering blasts. All around them, the bullets struck the wooden boxes and rusted steel frames and kicked up tiny wood splinters, sparks and other forms of debris that flew up and through the air temporarily obstructing the vision of everyone present.

"Where did they find machine guns?"

Carnage turned to look at the young army officer that had taken up a position beside him behind a row of wooden crates. He didn't respond to the question as another short burst of gunfire struck the top of the boxes and sent a shower of wood particles down onto them. When the bullet barrage stopped he took a breath and looked back at the soldier.

"We are in the former country of America after all. Those guns must be American made. Guaranteed to keep working even after nine hundred years!"

The young soldier did not laugh or even smile at Carnage's lame joke. He only continued to look at him with a serious expression on his face. Mercifully, the awkward moment between them was broken when another soldier dove to a position beside them as another hail of bullets passed overhead. He quickly righted himself and straightened up his helmet, which had fallen down over his eyes during his dive to the concrete floor. He griped his combat knife tightly in his hands as he tried to focus his senses and thought process in the aftermath of his extremely dangerous run through the open space of the warehouse. He pressed his back up against the crates just as Carnage and the other soldier were doing and took a couple short breaths before turning to look at them.

"Sir! Hicks and Apone are pinned down by another torpedo about twenty yards towards to the left of the warehouse's middle. Dorrin and Mac can't get close enough to properly distract the enemy's fire and are taking heavy fire from another pair of hostiles on the other side. We need to do something now or we are all sitting ducks!"

Carnage was quiet and he held his hand up to indicate that he wanted silence for a minute as he thought about their options. A small, pencil-thin pseudopod appeared from the top of his left shoulder and wiggled upwards so that it could peak over the top of the wooden box that was currently shielding him.

His symbiote had the ability to relay visual information from any part of his body which allowed him to see what was going on around him without having to turn his head or body. It was similar in function to an insect's compound eyes. Surprisingly; the sight of the thin tendril appearing from an uncommon area of his body did not faze the two soldiers at all as they had seen him use the technique many times before.

From what the symbiote could see their opponents were situated in the very centre of what remained of the warehouse. They had a ring of rusted steel crates surrounding them which formed a makeshift fort. This would make a frontal assault from his team far too dangerous. He couldn't see any ammo boxes from his current vantage point but he was sure that there had to be some in there with them. He could tell from the way the gunmen were handling themselves and their automatic weapons that they had some sort of military or combat training. This further complicated things to some degree as that meant that they could possibly read and interpret his team's movements and thus have a chance of countering any offensive they attempted.

The pseudopod panned to the left and right like a periscope to give him a more detailed view of the battle area around their enemy's improvised stronghold. He saw that there was a series of boxes, thick steel columns and other suitable obstructions that could provide possible sufficient cover to the left and right of their current position. Tilting its head, the tendril then panned upwards where he saw the thick steel girders that made up the rafters of what was left of the warehouse's ceiling. Based on the direction they were running, the steel beams had at one time run the entire length of the warehouse. From what he could see they looked to be still in fairly good condition which was remarkable considering the amount of time this building has been standing without anyone to take care of it. As he followed the beam directly above them a plan began to quickly form inside his head.

His stoic expression never changed as he retracted the pseudopod and turned to face the two soldiers who were anxiously awaiting his orders. As all this had been going on the continued sound of short bursts of gunfire had continued on behind them. It was clear that their opponents were shooting at their team mates who were still pinned down.

"Winters go right! Get as close to the enemy stronghold as you can. Nixon you go left and join up with Hicks and Apone. Both of you be smart and use the terrain to keep you safe! Do not openly expose yourselves for any reason."

The soldiers nodded their heads and moved to the two ends of the row of boxes that were currently keeping them safe. They made sure that their bodies were low enough to avoid providing a target for their enemies just as their leader had ordered. When Winters and Nixon were at the far edges of the line of wooden boxes, Carnage got their attention again by lightly tapping the boxes with his finger claw during a lull in the gunfire. Both soldiers turned their heads to look back at him over their shoulders. When their gazes were firmly on him he addressed them again.

"When you are in position wait for my signal and then charge the stronghold. Not a second before understand?"

"What's the signal sir?"

"You will know soldier. Trust me. Now get moving!"

They acknowledged his orders with a jerk of their heads and turned back towards the direction of their enemies. When they were confident they had an opening they both moved quickly to the nearest obstacle. When no gunfire sounded they moved onto the next obstacle and then the next. In a matter of seconds they were out of Carnage's sight as they repeated the same stop wait and move pattern.

Carnage produced another tendril from the top of his head to get an updated visual of where the shooters were currently facing. Two of the gunmen were facing in his direction which meant that he couldn't move from his spot. His plan was solely based on the element of surprise so with the killers looking directly at his current position all he could do was be patient and wait for them to look somewhere else. There were no new sounds of gunfire, which told him that Winters and Nixon were following his orders and keeping out of their enemy's field of vision as they moved towards their destinations.

He had complete faith in them because of the type of men he knew they were and his past years of experiences working with them. He calmly sat back against the wooden crate as he waited for his symbiote to give him the signal that it was safe to move. As he lay in wait his mind mentally recalled when he had first met the small band of commandos currently under his command, as a means to pass the time.

It had been about two years ago when this small band of former United States Army Rangers first appeared in the city of Crystal Tokyo. At this point in time, the Kingdom was still in its early infancy but was growing at an incredibly rapid rate. At the city's center, the Crystal Palace stood proudly with its five points jutting out across the green landscape like a sparkling beacon of hope. All around the towering gleaming formation large groups of white buildings were scattered all around. The way the structures were positioned along the terrain gave them the appearance of residential neighbourhoods and made it look like the old city layouts of centuries past. Huge green spaces were placed in between the different sections which enhanced the overall natural beauty of the kingdom.

Upon their entrance into the kingdom's territory the group of infantrymen were met by the Inner Sailor Soldiers. When asked who they were and what they wanted the soldiers had been able to convince them that they only sought an audience with the ruler of this realm. They willingly surrendered themselves to the Sailors as further proof that they were not one of the several bands of marauders that had become common nuisance in this new world.

The young female warriors escorted them to the Crystal Palace with two of the four warriors standing behind the group of soldiers while the other two remained in front. This was a textbook military formation for escort missions and it showed the infantrymen that these were not just young women playing make-believe.

As they walked through the city the soldiers saw how breath-taking Crystal Tokyo actually was first-hand. White cobblestone pathways zigzagged through the city's blocks. Large white marble columns lined each side of the smaller footpaths and made them recall the images of ancient Rome or Greece. There were no cars or other vehicles and there was no evidence that there ever had been any as the telltale signs such as skid marks, traffic lights or oil stains on the ground were all absent.

They approached the immense geological formation that served as the central point of the ever expanding kingdom and the soldiers were taken aback by its physical presence and the indescribable feeling they all felt as they looked at it. By physical appearance, the Crystal Palace consisted of dozens of vertically standing rock towers. There were two square shaped sections nestled among the spires of the north face of the Palace which they knew they were looking at judging from the compasses they had on them. In the tallest and thickest rock spire which was located in the centre of the Palace the soldiers could just make out the sight of a large waterfall and flowering garden at the very top of it.

When they reached the base of the Crystal Palace an elaborate and intricate looking pair of large doors and staircase suddenly appeared in the outer surface of the beautiful white crystal rock. As they drew nearer, the sailors stopped at the base of the stairs and the soldiers took that to mean that they were to wait there with them until clearance into the Palace was granted. They waited for about a minute or two before the twin doors opened inwards and two figures appeared from inside. They walked hand-in-hand to the top of the staircase before slowly walking down them. One was a tall young man with short black hair. He was dressed in an elegant lavender coloured tuxedo with shiny white boots and white silk gloves. He wore a thin white mask over the top of his face but the eye slits were open which allowed his brown eyes to be clearly seen. He wore a long cape that was dark purple on the outside and white inside. He had a couple of military-style looking medals pinned on the left side of his jacket and two medallions draped around his neck. He griped a thin cane with a decorative handle in his right hand that the soldiers knew housed a rapier or similar type of sword judging by the handle.

The other person on the staircase was a young female. She wore a long white dress that extended beyond her body hiding her feet and dragging along the ground behind her. Her dress was strapless and had a rim of gold circles that ran along the top of the grown and underneath her arms. On the back of the gown she had a large pair of synthetic angelic-looking wings that spread out to the sides and two long strands of semi-transparent fabric that were attached to the dress at the location of her lower back. On her head she wore a golden crown with a large ruby heart in its centre and two smaller rubies on either side of it. By far the most noticeable thing about this beautiful young woman was the pair of long pigtails of blonde hair that hung down from the two spherical buns on the top of her head.

They introduced themselves as King Endyimon and Neo-Queen Serenity before politely inquiring as to the nature of soldiers' presence in Crystal Tokyo. In response, the group of military officers responded by informing them that they had heard of this realm from several people that they had encountered during their travels and had come seeking sanctuary within its borders. They went on to explain that they were former army soldiers for the lost country of the United Sates of America. They had lost their homes and previous lives during the Great Cataclysm and were now trying to find a new place to start over. When they had heard about this kingdom it sounded like the perfect place to do that and had come in search of it.

In exchange for allowing them to live in the kingdom the soldiers volunteered to lend their various skills and military expertise towards the overall protection of the realm and solemnly pledge their allegiance to the Royal Family and Crystal Tokyo.

The King and Queen agreed to their terms but informed them that in order to become citizens of their kingdom they first had to hand over all of their weapons and explosive devices as they were expressly forbidden. Surprisingly, the soldiers had complied with the Queen's edict with little hesitation as the peaceful aura surrounding the Queen touched something warm deep inside them which caused them to completely trust her.

The other term of their citizenship was that they had to be cleansed of all the negative energy by the Silver Moon Crystal so that their souls would become nearly pure and devoid of the feelings of jealousy and greed that had in the genes of humans since the arrival of Metalia almost eleven millennia ago. One at a time, the soldiers agreed to that term as well without any hesitation.

After their cleansing they had been assigned to be under the command of Carnage the person in charge of Crystal Tokyo's global peace-keeping efforts. It had been something of a surprise for them to see a 'monster' running such an operation given the peaceful appearance of the kingdom and its rulers but they trusted their new queen's judgment. Carnage explained to them that their primary mission was to travel around the world to areas of turmoil or where crimes had been or were being committed and stop them.

He went on to explain that the Earth was now free of the national borders and individual countries that it had once had and it was now their responsibility to protect everyone regardless of race, religion or creed. Their mandate by order of the King and Queen was that no one was to die in any of their operations under any circumstances if it could be avoided. They were to capture any and all enemy combatants by any means necessary and bring them before Neo-Queen Serenity so that they could be cleansed by the Silver Moon Crystal just as the soldiers all had been. Once the captured prisoners were purified they were to be released. From there they could decide whether they wanted to stay and live in Crystal Tokyo or go back home and live as they wanted. This was the Queen's way of completely eliminating the negative energy from Earth one person at a time.

For the next two years that had followed, Carnage's team had done exactly that. Together they had travelled to six out of the seven former continents dozens of times and engaged in battles that ranged from minor scuffles to full out melees. The Queen's rules for engagement were clear and simple: capture any hostile individuals and collect any and all weapons of any sort that they came across so that Sailor Mars could destroy them with her fire-based powers. So far they had been able to follow those orders to the letter every single time and their numerous efforts had finally started to show some real long term progress in the overall promotion of peace on the Earth.

The Queen and King were very pleased with them and that in turn was more than enough reward for each member of the team. Their current mission right now was to apprehend a small ring of people that were trying to traffic a large cache of heroin that they had been cultivating and was now ready to distribute to any junkie or potential buyer they could find. This was something that Neo-Queen Serenity could not tolerate and why she had sent Carnage and his team to intercept them and destroy all of the manufactured and un-manufactured drugs as well as the tools needed to make them.

"It's time!"

Carnage snapped his focus back and pushed his memories back deep down inside his head as his symbiote broke through his current train of thought to inform him that they now finally had a window of opportunity to make their move. He quickly retracted the pseudopod sprouting from the crown of his head and elongated his arms straight up above him. Using another mental command, the strands of symbiote material shot upwards at a lightning quick speed and wrapped around the thick rusted steel girder above him like the end of a whip. When the organic filaments were tightly secure he began to reel the material back into the main body of his living costume which pulled his body upwards to the ceiling like a fisherman retracting his line. Once he got to within arms' reach of the rafter he pulled himself up onto the beam and got into a crouched position. He paused for a minute as he waited quietly to make sure that he had not been spotted by any of the armed drug dealers during his ascension to the roof. When nothing occurred he let a single thought pass through his brain.

_Looks like I am clear to proceed to Phase three_

He quickly and swiftly moved along the metal beam. He weaved through and ducked under the thin diagonal metal rods that crisscrossed along the girder and connected it to what remained of the flat sheet metal above that served as the underside of the ceiling. He was very careful to check out the area in front of him before he took each step so that he did not accidently knock anything over like a rock or a piece of loose metal over the edge that would give away his position to his targets below. His symbiote also used its sensitive skin to feel for any upcoming structural weakness in the steel as a result of the centuries of exposure and moisture. In a matter of minutes he found himself directly over the criminals that they had been tasked with apprehending.

From his current vantage point he could see where Hicks, Apone and Nixon were situated. When he looked in the other direction he saw that Winters had successfully rendezvoused with Dorrin and Mac and were now maintaining their cover as they awaited his signal.

Carnage took a deep breath as he prepared himself for what he was about to do. His plan was simple in its nature but there was still a large element of danger that still warranted him to proceed with caution. He looked down at his targets one final time before bending his knees and gripping the edge of the thick steel beam underneath him with his left hand.

The drug dealers were still keeping their focus on where they had last seen his comrades in their tan coloured camouflage uniforms. Their automatic rifles were poised as they trained them back and forth ready to open fire the second a target presented itself to them. As Carnage continued to watch from above one of the dealers was beginning to get very antsy at being surrounded by a squad of military officers and a man in a tacky Halloween costume. His body language was indicating this by the way he had become very restless and the way he physically flinched every time a shadow moved somewhere outside the makeshift fort's boundaries. Carnage began to wonder if this person was the leader of the drug ring and that the realization that his operation was about to get shut down before it even fully got started was starting to take its mental toll on him. As he continued to watch and wait for the right moment to pounce the suspected leader's patience finally reached its end.

"Enough of this crap!"

He stormed over to a small box located in the centre of their makeshift stronghold. From his position directly above him Carnage could still see him clearly without having to lean out too much. Below him, the man reached into the box and pulled out two small hand-held grenades. Carnage's large white eyes enlarged as he quickly understood what was about to happen. By the looks of it, the amateur drug lord was going to throw a grenade to the left and right which would force Winters and the rest of his team to move from their current positions in order to avoid the ensuing blasts and shrapnel. This would almost certainly leave them wide open to be picked off by the other members of the drug ring if they weren't killed by the initial explosions. Carnage knew he had to act now before the man had a chance to pull either of the grenade's pins.

Without wasting another second Carnage dropped down to the floor and landed just off of the centre of the fortified garrison. He had been careful to avoid touching down onto the pile of weapons and ammunition in the central area as this would have almost certainly caused him to stumble.

As he had descended to the floor he had morphed his hands into a pair of blunt instruments. One of his limbs changed into a flat board that was similar in appearance to a cricket bat. His other arm became long and cylindrical like a baseball bat. His symbiote had also produced several long pseudopods that whipped around his body in a series of defensive patterns.

Upon landing on the concrete floor he wrapped two of those tendrils around the leader's wrists to prevent him from pulling the pins out with his teeth. He followed up that move by pulling the wannabe drug pusher closer to him. When he was right up against him, Carnage landed a bone-shattering head-butt to the bridge of his nose. A second later, the leader of the small drug ring crumpled to the ground in a heap unconscious. He was bleeding profusely from his newly broken nose. Both of the grenades rolled harmlessly from his hands as his grip around them loosened and came to a stop a couple of feet away on either side of him.

The sudden and abrupt neutralization of their leader caught the attention of a couple of the other men. They spun around and were ready to cut the intruder in half with their bullets. When their eyes fell upon the unholy looking monster that they had only seen from a distance and was now standing over their boss the internal fear they felt temporarily overruled their military training. This caused them all to hesitate for a split second. Fortunately, a second is all Carnage needed.

He leaped forward and tackled one gunman to the ground before driving the back of his head into the hard concrete of the floor. This did not knock him out but only dazed him. Carnage remained on top of him as he sent a razor-sharp blade attached to a thick pseudopod out from the middle of his upper back behind him. At the end of strand, the blade flicked in an upwards arch that sliced through the other drug dealer's gun barrel which rendered the weapon useless.

By this point the remaining three members of the gang were now fully aware of Carnage's presence inside their stronghold. They all turned in unison to engage him all at once. They were all confident that between the three of them there was no way he could dodge all of their bullets. As soon as the gunmen's backs were turned away from them the rest of Carnage's team moved from their hiding places and charged forward. With their high degree of physical shape they were able to reach the perimeter of the garrison in less than five seconds. They expertly jumped over the large steel crates and took the men by surprise as they tightened their index fingers on the triggers of their automatic weapons. Using their superior krav maga fighting techniques the former Army Rangers were able to quickly neutralize the remaining members of the gang in less than forty-five seconds.

When the last of the drug dealers was successfully knocked out Carnage and Apone propped them up against the internal side of the garrison's wall and placed them in an upright sitting position. When the last of them was securely restrained Carnage stood up and turned his head to look around at his men as they began the cleanup portion of their operation.

Hicks and Winters were busy collecting the weapons that had been tossed or dropped during the short battle. Dorrin was looking over the captured drug dealers and attending to any injuries they had suffered during the scuffle while Mac assisted him in that task. Apone began to the tedious task of cataloging the contents of the weapons cache the gang had stockpiled. He was also looking for any leads or clues as to where these men had acquired such a large and deadly arsenal in this new world. Any information they could gather would be extremely useful to the other global defence division headed by Sailor Uranus and Neptune.

Sailor Neptune and Uranus were in charge of the global disarmament division. They were charged with seeking out any former military bases, gun shops or army surplus stores and destroy any weapons that they found so that they would not fall into the hands of individuals such as these drug pushers. Their mission was similar to one that Carnage's team was tasked with in that if they encountered any enemy combatants they were to apprehend them and bring them to Neo-Queen Serenity for purification. However their primary focus was still to find any surviving weapons or armament-making factories and shut them down permanently. Like Carnage, they had a platoon of former soldiers under their command to assist them in that principal mission. These former military men ranged from ex-Navy Seals, Russian Spetsnazs and a couple of other assorted military or counterterrorist factions that had come to Crystal Tokyo to start their new lives just as the members of Carnage's team had.

"Good job men! Another successful mission completed."

His soldiers all looked towards their leader and nodded their heads in appreciation for his positive acknowledgement. Nixon came up to Carnage and waited patiently for him to turn his head and acknowledge his presence.

"Sir! Request permission to begin the collection of all contraband and drug paraphernalia."

"At ease soldier. I told you that you don't need that level of formality with me. Request granted by the way. Take Winters and Hicks with you but stay frosty, there could still be more hostiles in the area or other hazards that we don't know about. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal, sir!"

Nixon, Hicks and Winters proceeded to quickly leave the garrison and move around the warehouse. They cracked open all the wooden and steel crates as well as any other containers that they found using a pair of crowbars that they had found near the remains of a plastic table. They marked the vessels that contained forbidden materials such as weapons or drugs with black camouflage paint. Inside the other containers were found to be filled with large amounts of clothing non-perishable food and other items that might be useful to the populace of Crystal Tokyo.

King Endyimon and Neo-Queen Serenity had said that any such items were welcome to come back so that they could be put to proper use rather than destroying them or leaving them to rot. In these instances where such items were located, the citizens with sewing or seamstress experience would repair any damage to the clothing and provide them to the various shops around the city. It was the last of Carnage's team's mission's objectives. After Dorrin and Mac had finished their physical assessments of each of the captured criminals they joined the others in the search and seizure of the crumbling facility's contents.

Several hours later they were finally close to being done. All that was left to do was to alert the Crystal Palace so that they could transport the marked boxes of useful items back to the kingdom and then inform Sailor Mars that her services were needed at their location.

Carnage was out on the warehouse floor waking around as he continued to supervise Hicks and Mac as they used a pair of dollies they had come across during their search, to group the crates together. Surprisingly the dollies were working fairly well considering they hadn't been used in over nine centuries they had just needed a generous amount of oil for the wheels and hydraulics. This had made the transportation procedure much easier for them as they collected the crates together in small groups. As Carnage continued to watch his men a vertical slit in the symbiotic skin slowly appeared along his right thigh. He reached into the tear and pulled out a small communication device. He lifted the small machine and put microphone that was built into it close to his mouth.

"Red Diamond to Crystal Palace, come in."

"Crystal Palace here."

"Stand by for transport of serviceable items for city's populace."

"Copy that! Activate transport markers and await transporter initiation."

"Understood. Over."

Carnage lowered the communicator and lifted his head so that he was looking towards Mac who was currently assisting Hicks as they brought over another series of boxes that were full of clothing and blankets that appeared to have been looted from the ruins of a GAP store. He waited until the cartons were safely put back onto the ground before calling out to him to get his attention.

"Mac, turn on the transportation markers and wait for the Palace to take that load."

Mac nodded his head to let Carnage know that he had heard his order. He signalled to Hicks to stop bringing any more crates to this particular group. Hicks in turn gave him a 'thumbs up' with his right hand before turning around to get the attention of Winters and Dorrin to inform them of the same thing. Carnage watched as the three of them set out to work on setting up the next pile of crates to be transported as Mac flicked on the transmission indicators situated around the pile of crates.

Suddenly his symbiote screamed inside his head that something was occurring behind him. He spun around quickly and looked for the reason for his partner's abrupt and urgent warning. His large white eyes speedily scanned the scene behind him and instinctively focused in on the unconscious row of captured drug dealers. He felt his heart rate pick up as the hybrid blood in his veins noticeably dropped in temperature.

One of amateur criminals had regained conscious and had managed to cut through the rope that they had used to bind them. He had found a small pistol that had been hidden inside a secret compartment in one of the steel boxes that made up the wall of the crude fort.

He currently had the gun raised and was aiming at Sgt. Apone who had his back to the criminal as he continued to collect the weapons and explosives inside the garrison for Sailor Mars to destroy. Carnage began to rush forward as he sent out several pseudopods in the direction of the attacker. He hoped to deflect the gun or at least render it unusable before he could get a shot off. As he ran towards him he screamed out a warning to his team mate.

"Apone! Incoming!"

Apone heard his warning and started to lift his head to look up at Carnage in an effort to determine which direction he should move. He then heard the unmistakable 'click' behind him as the hammer of the gun was pulled back and became ready to fire. He reacted instinctively by diving to the ground to get out of the target area he was presently in.

The sound of the gun going off echoed throughout the open space of the decaying warehouse. It was followed by a yell of pain that Carnage and the others recognized as coming from their team mate and friend.

Carnage reached the scene first. He knocked the gun out of the shooter's hand and caused it to land outside the circular area of the improvised stronghold before following it up with a strong left hook across the criminal's face which temporarily stunned him. He then turned to where Apone had fallen and hurried over to him. He knelt down beside him as Dorrin and Winters where the next to arrive. They proceeded to quickly pin and re-secure the shooter who was starting to recover from their leader's punch.

Carnage looked at where Apone had been hit ad saw the wound in his side, just below his rib cage. He was still conscious but his breathing was noticeably much more laboured and there was a thin stream of blood that was oozing down from the corner of his mouth. Hicks crouched down on the other side of him. A grim look appeared on his face as he looked at the wound for himself.

"The bullet may have hit his liver or spleen judging from its entrance point. We need to get him back to Sailor Mercury now or he is not going to make it."

Carnage didn't answer and his monstrous face remained devoid of any readable expression. He instead stood up and stormed over to where the still conscious drug dealer was. He was once again tied up with a stronger rope and the sharpened edge that he had used to cut the first set of restraints had been taken away. Dorrin and Winters were standing on either side of him but quickly moved out of the way when they saw their leader's rapid approach. Without saying a word Carnage reached down and grabbed the man by the front of his neck. He roughly lifted him off the ground using the augmented strength from his symbiote to pick the man up with ease. Underneath him, the man's legs loosely dangled and kicked uselessly in the air as he desperately tried to escape the angry red creature that was holding him.

The grip from Carnage's hand around his neck was restricting his airway which was causing him to roughly cough and choke. Hicks, Winters, Mac and Dorrin all gathered around him but kept a safe distance away from him as they watched what was happening in front of them with worried looks in their eyes. They had seen their leader act this way several times over the past year but lately these occurrences were becoming more and more frequent.

"Hey, what are you doing man?"

"You dare attack one of my men?"

"I'm… sorry… ok… I don't… know… what I… was thinking!"

"That is no excuse!"

Carnage pulled back his other arm to a position behind him. He tightly clenched his fist before morphing it into the head of a spiked medieval mace. Their leader's snarling mouth and the intensity in the white eyes made the rage that was threatening to completely consume him unmistakeable to the soldiers around him. Where once they might have joined in with the treatment of the person that had critically wounded one of their own they were now feeling beyond uncomfortable with the sight of another human being who was no longer a threat on the brink of being brutally murdered in cold blood.

Winters stepped forward and bravely put his hand on Carnage's shoulder. Almost the symbiote wrapped around his hand which prevented him from letting go or taking his hand off it. Carnage turned his head to look over his shoulder at the man who had dared to interfere with the punishment he was about to inflict on young criminal.

"Do not try to stop me Winters. I don't want to hurt you."

"Sir! You can't do this."

"Can't I? This scum manages to survive the nuclear fire and is given a second chance to re-start his life and he decides to make money off a substance that brings nothing but death and misery to anyone it comes into contact with? He then has the audacity to shoot one of our own and think he will not suffer the consequences!"

Winters and the other soldiers all gasped at the intense tone in Carnage's voice. He sounded like a completely different person. To be completely honest, he actually sounded more monster than human. They all had no doubt that he was about to kill the captured man without hesitation if they didn't do anything to stop him. With his superhuman abilities they would have no way of stopping him physically. That meant that their only chance was to try to appeal to the good nature that hopefully still remained inside him and reach the part of his soul that had been strengthened by his cleansing from the Silver Moon Crystal. Winters who was still being firmly held by the symbiote took that desperate initiative.

"Sir! You can't kill him."

"Why not? He would have surely killed each and every one of us if given the chance. I must show him what happens when he attempts such an act!"

"But sir, you must not kill him! Our Queen has forbidden it and you cannot defy her wishes."

"The Queen?"

His voice and noticeably softened slightly and the strands holding Winters to his shoulder loosened as well. Slowly, the arm holding the drug dealer lost some of its stiffness as if some of the strength running through it suddenly disappeared with the mention of Neo-Queen Serenity. Winters pulled his hand free and began to rub it with the other one to ease some of the discomfort he was feeling after having his hand pressed down with tremendous force. Staff Sergeant Dorrin jumped in as he was determined to keep the ball rolling and peacefully defuse the situation.

"Yes our queen. Neo-Queen Serenity! She has expressly decreed that no one is to die during any of our missions and you are about to fail in upholding that order!"

Dorrin's comment seemed to do the trick as Carnage's white eyes flashed again and visually lost much of the intensity that they had just been filled with. His grip on the man's throat also noticeably loosened and a second later he let go of it completely. With a loud thud, the man dropped down to his knees as he coughed hoarsely and rubbed the sides of his neck which were dark red and bruised from the pressure of Carnage's fingers pressing against it. Hicks and Mac moved in quickly and moved the man back to where the other captured prisoners were and to get him a safe distance away from Carnage. Dorrin came up behind Carnage and mirrored Winters earlier gesture by putting his hand on top of his shoulder.

Unlike before Carnage didn't respond in a hostile manner. He instead simply turned to look at Dorrin over his shoulder. His wide mouth remained closed and the look in his large eyes could almost be described as remorseful. Any trace of the rage that had nearly consumed him appeared to be completely gone and all that was left in its place was the feelings of intense guilt at what he had almost done.

Dorrin and the others breathed a sigh of relief as they saw that they had successfully avoided a very ugly and potential tragic situation. He removed his hand from Carnage's shoulder and walked around him so that he was standing directly in front of him.

"Let's hurry up and complete this mission so that we can get back home for some much needed R & R. I think we could all use some downtime right about now!"

"Yes, that does sound good!"

"Yeah I am sure your wife is anxious for you to get back as well!" Mac added with a friendly wink.

End of Chapter 1…


	3. The Crystal Kingdom

Chapter 2

The sight of the Crystal Palace's transport room was always a welcome visual to Carnage and his team when they returned home from their latest mission. Inside the chamber, the quiet atmosphere let them all know that they were once again safe. That reassuring feeling filled each member with an inner sense of calmness every single time.

The room itself had a high cathedral ceiling and was located in the basement of the Crystal Palace. Each of the walls of the chamber were barren and devoid of any type of decoration which gave them a somewhat cold and sterile appearance. Visibly, the exterior walls were not smooth like the walls one would come to expect from a standard castle or even the interiors of the majority of the residential houses that had existed in the 21st century. Instead, the walls were jagged and rough and gave the room the appearance of an underground mountain tunnel or cave. Even though the room was not furnished with any sort of furniture pieces that would seem befitting for a part of the center piece of the Crystal Kingdom it still caused a surge of relaxation to flow through each of the young military men as they realized that they were safely back home.

The transporter device itself was located in a large room adjacent to where the Crystal supercomputer was situated. It was a true marvel of the advanced technological achievements of the third era of humanity. It consisted of a large circular platform with an identical circular roof suspended directly above it. Two large computer banks spawned out of opposite sides of the lower platform with thick power cables connecting them to both the ground and top components. Each of the computer terminals had a large screen in its center with several smaller monitors surrounding it. Each of these screens were consistently flashing with updated information every few seconds as the machine ran constant system checks and monitored the vital signs of all of its passengers. All around the machine lights of various colours flashed and blinked as huge amounts of electrical power flowed through it to keep it fully operational and ready for use at a moment's notice. For Carnage and his soldiers the look and design of the transporter brought back various memories of the numerous Star Trek and assorted science fiction series that had run on several of the television channels back when each of them had been young boys.

The transporter machine had been designed and built by Sailor Mercury who had been formerly known as Ami Mizuno. She was also the one who built the Crystal Palace's supercomputer and various defence systems. In the time period prior to the Great Sleep it had been always speculated that she had an intelligence quotient of three hundred which was the highest score a human being could achieve on the standardized testing that had existed during the last years of the second age of humanity. When the Silver Moon Crystal encased the world's population in the protective crystalline shells seconds before the global nuclear disaster the crystal's magical energy caused a strange effect to occur in Sailor Mercury over her long duration in suspended animation. During the nine hundred years that she had been asleep the Silver Moon Crystal's power had apparently opened up her brain`s cognitive functions to their fullest potential. This had caused an increase her overall intelligence to immeasurable levels. She was now quite literally the smartest person on the planet, like the literary superheroes Tony Stark or Reed Richards of old.

In her downtime between creating new inventions and designing upgrades to any existing ones that would continue the prosperity of the Kingdom Sailor Mercury had managed to finally successfully pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a medical doctor just like her mother. Upon her completion of her medical schooling Neo-Queen Serenity appointed her to the position of chief surgeon and physician at the Crystal Tokyo Hospital.

With the lack of automobiles and criminal behaviour in the kingdom's territory her patients were mostly people with allergies, viral/bacterial infections or the many diseases and ailments that the human race still continued to struggle against even after nine centuries. It was a small but still welcomed change to the challenges her mother had faced on a daily basis when she had been a doctor at the Aiiku Hospital so long ago.

As the transporter machine's loud mechanical hum slowly began to fade which was the signal that it had finished its procedural cycle and was now in the process of almost completely powering down and going into its 'standby mode'. Upon hearing the whine slowly disappear Carnage and his team slowly opened their eyes and took in the calming image of the interior of the room. It was a safety precaution that during any use of the machine its passengers or operators had to wear eye protection or keep their eyes firmly closed to shield them from the blinding and bright flashes of light that resulted from the machine's usage. As their eyes opened and took in the scene before them they were drawn to the small group of people who were standing in the center of the room and were currently looking at them.

As soon as it was deemed safe to approach the machine a small portion of the welcoming group sprang into action. Among the members of the advancing party were Sailor Mercury and her medical team. They rushed forward and took Sgt. Apone from Hicks and Dorrin who were currently holding him up by his arms that were draped over their necks. They placed him onto the stretcher that they had brought with them and began to secure him in its straps. Sailor Mercury lifted Apone's left wrist and gently rotated it so it was facing palm up. She placed her index and middle fingers on the outside of the wrist as she searched for the radial artery. She quickly found it and felt his pulse through the material of her white glove. After a few seconds she put his hand down and took a small penlight from her medical kit and shined it into Apone's eyes. She watched how his pupils responded to the bright light's glare and moved the light around slightly to see how it reacted. After a few more seconds she switched off the light and lifted her head to look at the members of her medical team.

"Get him secured on the gurney stat! His vitals are starting to slip. Alert the O.R. that we are on route."

As soon as her medical staff had finished securing him into the gurney's safety straps they all turned in unison and hurried out of the chamber. Echoes of the sounds of their retreating footsteps quickly disappeared down the quiet stone hallway outside the room and once again allowed the quiet atmosphere of the transporter room to return.

After Sailor Mercury and her team's dramatic departure the other members of the welcoming party stepped forward and the sight of them filled each of the remaining members with a sense of pride and joy. Sailor Venus lead the approaching group as she walked up and gave her best friend and team mate Sailor Mars a friendly hug.

"Good job out there Mars!"

"Thanks Venus! Another batch of lethal weapons and drugs successfully destroyed!"

They both stepped off the platform and moved to the side to allow the other two members of the welcoming party to move forward. Sailor Jupiter eagerly hopped up on the podium and threw her arms around Carnage as she gave him a big hug. He was still wearing his "monster" face which he always did when he was outside the Kingdom's realm. As she pulled her head back so that she was facing him the symbiotic skin retreated. It opened up at the point where the tip of his nose would have been and first moved back before going down and coming to a stop at the base of his neck. Sean's dark blue eyes brightly flashed as they settled on his beautiful wife and his arms squeezed tightly around her as he held her right up against him.

"I am glad you are home babe!"

"I am too. I missed you!"

It was then that the last person present in the room interjected herself and broke the tender moment with a feminine and subtle clearing of her throat. Everyone present all turned their heads around and looked towards the owner of the sudden sound. Neo-Queen Serenity in response smiled as she saw that all eyes were now on her. Sean let go of Sailor Jupiter and took a side to the side. He and his team then all dropped down in unison to one knee and lowered their heads. It was their way of showing their respect and honouring the presence of their queen.

"Rise my friends… I should be bowing before you."

She took a few more steps forward to put herself closer to the brave group of people kneeling before her. Sean and his soldiers slowly stood up as she approached them. They all stepped off the platform with the military men falling into a single line with Sean and Sailor Jupiter standing together in front of them. Each of the young commandos kept their faces blank while Sean gave their queen a small smile. Sailor Jupiter smiled as well as she stood beside him and held his hand in a loving embrace.

"Good work on completing your mission Sean. All of the supplies your team recovered will greatly help the people of our kingdom. The criminals you apprehended are currently being held in the holding cells until I can cleanse them with the Silver Moon Crystal."

"Thank you my Queen!"

Sean and the rest of his team all bowed the heads together to show their appreciation at her gracious compliment and recognition for what they had accomplished. Neo-Queen Serenity nodded her head when they looked back up at her to let them each know that she was grateful for the respect they were giving her. In response, the warm look from their queen made the soldiers stand at ease except for Sean who noticeably straightened up. This was a sign that he was about to speak.

"Your highness… is there any more missions that you would like myself or my team to complete for you at this time?"

"Not at the moment Sean. Right now, the Crystal computer is monitoring some activity in the eastern part of the former continent of Africa. However at the moment we do not yet have enough information to proceed. That being said be ready to move once we do."

"I understand my queen. With your permission I would like to spend some time with my wife before we are needed again."

Neo-Queen Serenity's smile grew a little and a short giggle escaped her lips. In the time since she had crowned herself queen of Crystal Tokyo she had matured by leaps and bounds into a real leader. She had certainly come a long way from the young, clumsy crybaby that she had been when she first became Sailor Moon many years ago.

In the wake of the near total destruction of the Earth's civilization and the subsequent hibernation and resurrection of its people after nine centuries, the woman formerly known as Usagi Tuskino had been forced to grow up. When she and her friends had been released from the crystal shells, they had travelled and encountered dozens of bands of people of various sizes doing the same. The many legends of the Sailor Soldiers still remained in many of the people's minds and, not surprisingly, they looked to them and her for guidance in this scary, unfamiliar world.

Seeing the terrified and confused looks of the growing number of people seeking her protection, she came to realize that she had to put away her childish ways and become the adult and more importantly, the leader that she knew she was destined to be.

Once the city of Crystal Tokyo was officially established and expanding, former world leaders and people that once carried positions of authority began to seek audiences with her and Mamoru to discuss the sharing of resources and other matters of commerce. In preparation for these meetings and summits, Sailors Neptune, Uranus and Pluto had been giving her intense lessons in proper etiquette and demeanour. It had been hard at first but she forced herself to endure them and learn as she knew that hundreds and soon, thousands of people depended on her to lead them into an era of peace.

She carried herself now with a presence that commanded attention whenever she entered a room and whenever she spoke her words carried a tone of confidence and authority that made them heard by everyone that was in earshot. However every so often, a little bit of her former self would break through and she would show a brief glimpse of the old Usagi, like in this instance. She finished her small chuckle and straightened her shoulders to regain her regal composure and her maturity once again.

"Of course…"

She stepped aside and gestured with her right hand to indicate to them that they were dismissed. Sailor Jupiter and Sean nodded their heads again in a sign of thanks as they slowly walked passed their queen. Neo-Queen Serenity turned her body completely around once they were passed her and watched them as they left the chamber and disappeared from view down the hallway. They continued to hold hands never letting go.

As she watched the loving couple depart behind her, the remaining members of Sean's team continued to stand shoulder to shoulder. Hicks tilted his head forward slightly and looked down the line towards Winters. He bobbed his head somewhat as he attempted to get his team mate's attention without making any big movements. When Winters still did not show any signs that he had noticed his attempts he began to cough.

That did the trick as Hicks saw Winters' eyes flash over in his direction. Using the opportunity he tilted his head in the direction of where Neo-Queen Serenity was standing and mouthed for him to say something. Winters responded with a look of surprise and confusion as he quickly realized what he was being asked to do. Without making a sound he mouthed his response back to Hicks.

'What? No… you do it!'

'Just do it!'

Hicks silently responded back and his face got noticeably tighter as he was getting frustrated with Winters' hesitation. In their now debunked military ranks Hicks who had been a corporal would never attempt to order around or show any anger towards someone like Winters who had earned the rank of major.

As the tense and silent standoff continued to occur behind her Neo-Queen Serenity caught the attention of Sailor Mars and Venus who were standing off to the side. She silently asked them to leave her alone with the soldiers. Both ladies briefly glanced over at the line of military officers before nodding their heads. They quickly left the chamber in a casual manner as to not draw the attention of the soldiers behind their queen. When they were out of sight Neo-Queen Serenity broke the silence of the room with a sudden and unexpected question.

"Is there something that you want to tell me?"

Hicks and Winters snapped back to attention as did their other team mates at the sudden sound of their queen's voice. Each of them stared forward as they watched Neo-Queen Serenity turn back around and lock her beautiful baby blue eyes on each of them. Her face that had been wearing a small smile only a minute before was now a thin line as she felt the internal tension that each of the soldiers was radiating out in spades. She could tell from their body language that something had happened on the mission that had both worried and concerned them. She took a few steps towards them so that she was closer to them. It was meant to show them that she was serious about wanting to know what they were clearly very hesitant to tell her.

The former Army Rangers continued to stare forward and did not make direct eye contact with her as they chose instead to look passed her at the door or the wall behind her. Neo-Queen Serenity had seen enough movies in her former life as Usagi Tsukino to recognize shifty behaviour in an individual. She had also developed an intense sense of loyalty towards her best friends and the ability to see it in other people. Her current observations of the men standing before her were clearly showing a deep conflict in them between their sense of duty to the kingdom and their loyalty to someone. It was become instantly obvious to her who the only person that could cause such a conflict in them could be.

Her lips pursed and tightened into a thin line once again as the brightness in her blue eyes noticeably faded. She looked down the line of soldiers and slowly walked in front of them. She stopped to stare at each of them directly for a few seconds before moving onto the next person in the row. Holding her hands down in front of her she took a few more steps and came to a stop about two feet in front of Staff Sergeant Dorrin. She saw his eyes break from their fixed stare passed her as they flicked back so that they made brief contact with hers. He maintained his rigid posture and blank expression despite the intense prodding and scrutinizing coming from his queen.

"Staff Sergeant Dorrin… please tell me what happened!"

Dorrin's eyes flicked back again to look at her but he remained silent. His demeanour visibly softened and his shoulders relaxed slightly. The other soldiers did not break their stance or show any signs that they were fazed or bothered by Neo-Queen Serenity's order. The only physical thing some of them did was tightened their jaws as they each prepared for what was going to happen next. They all had complete faith in their queen but none of them could betray the honour and unspoken rule against speaking out against a superior officer to her, even in this new era.

The sounds of a struggle in the hallway outside the chamber drew the attention of both Neo Queen Serenity and the soldiers. The Queen turned around to see what was happening, breaking the tense stare down with Dorrin. A few seconds later, a pair of royal guards came into view escorting one of the criminals Carnage and his team had just captured. He was clearly trying to break free of their grips so he could escape the palace but the guards' hold on him remained firm. He noticed the soldiers and the Queen as he passed by the open entrance to the transporter room and increased the intensity of his physical resistance.

"Hey queenie! What kind of ruler employs a red skinned freak? That monster almost killed me!" he shouted at Neo Queen Serenity.

"Be silent and keep moving. No one speaks to the Queen like that." One of the guards sternly said, emphasizing the point by giving the man a rough shake.

"If she is allowing her soldiers to kill unarmed people then she doesn't deserve any respect or has she forgotten a little something called the Geneva Convention!" The man spat back.

"Stop!" Neo Queen Serenity shouted, stopping everyone in their tracks.

She walked up to the guards and criminal, maintaining a distance that kept her safely away from any physical strikes should he break free but still close enough to hopefully intimidate him enough with her presence and authority.

"You will tell me everything that happened during your capture or you may find your time in the prisoner cells unexpectedly extended."

The man was no stranger to jails, having spent more than half his life before being frozen inside them. This young slip of woman playing queen didn't scare him in the slightest but if she was giving him a chance to reduce his incarceration time but a few weeks or months, he would gladly take it. He locked eyes with her and took a breath as he mentally prepared his story for her.

Outside the palace Sean and Sailor Jupiter had just left the gleaming crystalline tower and were now casually strolling through the streets of Crystal Tokyo. Holding onto each other's hand they looked like the classic image of a young married couple. Sailor Jupiter was dressed in her eternal sailor uniform while Carnage was in his crimson coloured symbiotic suit. His face and head were uncovered as the living alien skin continued to rest at the base of his neck.

There was no need to hide their identities to the general public of their kingdom as everyone loved and appreciated the protection the sailors and Carnage provided them. It was not uncommon for a citizen to stop any one of them and shake their hand or even give them a hug as a show of their appreciation. As they passed through the crowds of pedestrians who lined the streets and stopping occasionally to go into some of the various stores that made up one of main the shopping districts of Crystal Tokyo, they were constantly greeted with pleasant greetings of 'hellos' and 'good days'. Many of the citizens of Crystal Tokyo were used to the sight of their guardians the Sailor Soldiers and Carnage walking among them. They were well aware of the roles they played in the peace and prosperity of the kingdom and the mere sight of them mingling with them gave the feeling of safety in each and every one of them.

Every so often as they walked through the busy streets of their city the young couple would turn their heads to look at each other and give the other a smile that was filled with love and warmth and reaffirmed their devotion to each other.

"Good morning Mr. Carnage! Hello Miss Jupiter!"

"Hello there Mr. Honda! Do you have any fresh apples today?"

"Of course, Mr. Carnage. Do you still prefer the green ones?"

"You know me too well kind sir!"

The friendly shopkeeper playfully tossed an apple towards the red suited young man who caught the round piece of fruit in mid-air with his left clawed hand. They both said their 'thanks' and continued on with their stroll down one of the main streets. As Sailor Jupiter and Sean continued on with their walk both of them quietly reflected on what their lives and the lives of their friends had become over these last four years.

Since their reawakening all of them had been hard at work establishing and building the kingdom that was to become the prophesied new Earth Kingdom with Crystal Tokyo as its capital city. During the nine centuries since the nuclear holocaust and the subsequent hibernation of the planet's population as the Earth healed itself, time had effectively erased everything that had been established in the 21st century. Fundamental institutions such as the economic market, the criminal justice system, government infrastructure, and communication systems were all gone. So far, the only remains of their previous world were the various crumbling structures like the warehouse Carnage and his team had just been in and the rusted metal shells of the skyscrapers that had once marked the major cities like old Tokyo.

With the almost complete destruction of the society they had once known the sailors and Carnage had decided to abandon their civilian identities and truly become the warriors they really were. Only on rare occasions did they refer to each other by their former names and that was usually only meant to either emphasize an emotional point or grab the person's immediate attention if it was deemed necessary.

The kingdom's overall size had exploded since its initial inception four years ago. At the very beginning it had just been the Sailor team and the hundred or so people that they had come across as they had wandered the landscape following their release from the crystal cocoons. Over the past four years the kingdom's population had grown from a few hundred to well over thirty eight million citizens. Across the land, the rapid rumours of a safe and peaceful haven had spread by word of mouth from the numerous people that passed through the kingdom on their nomadic travels since there were no telephones or internet anymore. The prospect of a secure place to go and live was simply something that many people could not let pass by especially in their current states of confusion and hopelessness at being in a world that they did not recognize. It gave many of them a feeling of encouragement that they could get a piece of their former lives back after they had survived the nightmare that had been their final image for many of them right before being placed into suspended animation.

Every day since the kingdom's creation more and more people continued to arrive in Crystal Tokyo. This had kept Neo-Queen Serenity very busy with the purifications of the new civilians and the secondary task of assigning them jobs based on their acquired skills and knowledge so that the kingdom could continue to grow and meet the demands its population required. Often times this had proven to be somewhat problematic when people who had been in professions such as law or policing arrived. Since there was no absolutely no crime in Crystal Tokyo there was no need for these types of jobs. However as a preventative measure, the only forms of enforcement in the kingdom were the Sailor team and the royal guards. In cases where there was no open spots in the royal guard the affected parties had to find other jobs or be willing to learn a profession such as farming carpentry or civil engineering that was more important to Crystal Tokyo's needs.

When Neo-Queen Serenity had founded the kingdom one of her first royal decrees was the creation and implementation of one single social class. Through her wisdom and knowledge of history provided to her by her advisors, the concepts of money and wealth were two of the things that she had declared were behind the chaotic state the world had fallen into before the "Great Sleep'. She did not want to repeat the mistakes of the past and allow the feelings of jealousy, resentment or greed to reappear in her kingdom and the human race again now when they had all been given a second chance at life.

To that very end she and her chief advisors developed and refined the long since forgotten idea of a 'barter and trade' system. People would exchange goods and services instead of money. As an extension to that every citizen of Crystal Tokyo would be given a house or dwelling that was suitable for their specific needs. A single person would receive a dwelling that was the approximate size of a standard bachelor apartment while a family would be given a house that was equivalent to a typical bungalow-type of house and contain a bedroom for each member. No one was allowed to build or buy anything bigger without the approval of Neo-Queen Serenity and/or King Endyimon and that would only occur if the person's situation changed such as adding another child to their existing family or getting married or having their first child.

Thus far the systems Neo-Queen Serenity had put into place seemed to working flawlessly. Within the span of a few years, the kingdom had now expanded to a size that surpassed the previous land area of their former home the original city of Tokyo. There had been no incidents of any violent crime, theft or public disturbances in its recent history and there were no signs or indications of any growing public unrest or disapproval about the current state of the kingdom and its policies from any of its citizens.

"Look babe! The Crystal Hilfinger has gotten its new spring line-up. Let's go in and check it out!"

"Sounds like fun green eyes!"

Sailor Jupiter's face lit up and a huge smile stretched across her face. Her radiant expression filled Sean with a sense of warmth as it always did each and every time he saw it. Even though she was now twenty years old her beauty had only magnified with her age. When he had first seen her when she was only fourteen he had thought she was the pinnacle of beauty. However seeing her now he was grateful to have been proven wrong.

She jumped in front of him and grabbed his arm at the wrist. Her great physical strength still impressed him even after so many years of fighting by her side. It was not because she was a female but her inner power as a confident and compassionate person that he firmly believed was the true source of her strength. Even though his thick symbiotic skin he could feel the tightness of her grip as her excitement fully enveloped her. A second later she began to back up and pull him with her. He smiled as he playfully resisted her at first before giving in to her child-like enthusiasm and let her lead him into the clothing store.

Unbeknownst to the happy young couple a shadowy figure watched them from the edge of an alley a short distance away. The person was dressed in a pair of black pants and a long dark jacket with a hood. His hooded coat was clearly several sizes too big for the body frame of the person wearing it. This caused the hood to drape over and passed the person's face obscuring most of it from view. The length of the coat ran almost to the ground which allowed for only a small glimpse of the black boots that completed the outfit. From a distance the person's attire looked like some sort of one piece robe which gave them the appearance of a druid or a member of a secret religious cult.

"He is the one. He will be the instrument I will use to bring this sickening kingdom to its knees!"

The mysterious figure continued to stand in the mouth of the alley as the citizens of Crystal Tokyo continued to pass by as they went about on their daily business or activities. Surprisingly not one of them seemed to notice the ominous-looking person standing in the mouth of the alley. It was almost as if he was invisible or something. For several minutes, the dark dressed person continued to watch the front of the store where its target and the beautiful young woman he was with had ventured into..

"Yes… he will be perfect!"

Beneath the dark material that made up the hood of the coat the seemingly evil figure smiled. In the limited light that ventured into the alley, the impossibly white teeth of his mouth caught a few of the rays from the morning sunlight and gleamed brightly. This created a strange and unusual visual image amid the dominating darkness that filled the alley behind him. A second later the figure slowly stepped backwards and moved deeper into the alley where he effectively melted into the darkness of the deep shadows. A few seconds after that the alley was once again empty and any indication of anyone having just been in there had seemingly disappeared without a trace.

End of Chapter 2…


	4. Fate of a Friend

Chapter 3

The two royal guards standing on either side of the large double wooden doors each gave a single nod of their heads as they acknowledged the young woman that was quickly approaching them. Behind them, the doorway was over thirteen feet tall with each of the side of the door measuring just over ten feet in height. Each of the doors' panels were made of solid Japanese beech and stained with a light brown finish. They were built into small stone alcove with a high archway. On either side of the outer edge of the alcove where the guards and as she got closer, they turned their bodies in unison and gripped the long vertical rock handles of the doors with a single hand each. With some moderate physical exertion they each pulled hard on the door handles which caused the tall wooden doors to swing open and allow access to the large room within.

From what could be seen through the quickly expanding gap between the door panels the room inside was huge and open with a very high ceiling, like a hall or cathedral. White stone square tiles covered the floor of the royal chamber and was polished to the point where its surface had become very reflective and acted almost like a mirror. Each of the walls of the grand chamber were lined with white marble columns that were spaced out in groups of four. In between the columns were large square sections of wall that were decorated with various intricate and beautiful etchings and patterns. Near the edge of the ceiling, the top half of the chamber was furnished with white and black marble flattened square blocks. It was breathtaking to consider the scale of the detail and design of not only the royal chamber but of the entire interior of the Crystal Palace as a whole. It was reminiscent of the old European mansions, castles and the palaces of the ancient Roman emperors.

In perfect alignment with the room's main entrance were a pair of large golden thrones that sat side by side. This created the main focal point of the room. Both of the thrones were placed upon a platform that was about twelve feet off the ground. It had a small flight of stairs leading down to an even larger platform and a second flight of stairs that went down to the ground level. Behind the thrones a pair of long red curtains hung from the stone archway high above and behind them and came to a stop a few inches from the floor. In the open space between the drapes were a few large shards of semi-transparent crystal that were several feet long and protruded upwards from the floor. Both of the grand looking chairs were cut from beautiful looking grey marble stone and the bases of each chair were decorated with elaborate carvings etched into the solid stone. They were covered in gold coloured upholstery with red cushions in the seat area. Sitting upon the thrones as the doors opened to allow the latest arrival to enter the room was the King and Queen of Crystal Tokyo.

Without breaking her gait or current speed Sailor Venus passed through the twin doors and into the room. As soon as she was through the threshold the two guards behind her proceeded to pull the doors shut. As the wood panels of the door gently slammed together the resulting 'thud' sound acted as a signal to everyone present in the room with her that they were now ensured of their privacy and thus were able to talk about the sensitive material that was the main topic for this sudden and unexpected meeting.

Sailor Venus continued to walk towards where the King and Queen were sitting. She took notice of the two lines of Soldiers that were standing at attention on either side of the royal purple carpet that marked the pathway from the room's main doors to the stairs that lead up to the two platforms. She recognized them as members of Carnage's military unit. Her mind began to race at the possible reasons as to why they were present at this gathering.

Sailor Venus strolled up the stairs to the first platform where the rest of the other Sailors were all standing. A few stairs above them was the second landing where the twin thrones of Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endyimon were situated.

The faces on both of them were grim and devoid of the usual warmness that they were usually filled with. They were sitting upright and their postures were clearly very tense and rigid. Leaning against the right side of his throne was the King's cane sword while his left hand was outstretched and holding on to his wife's in the empty space between the royal thrones.

"Sorry I am late everyone. There was a disturbance in the Caledon district."

"Is everything ok?"

"Yes my queen. It was just some graffiti that someone painted on the side of a store. As you can imagine, the owner was upset and needed some reassurance that we would investigate the incident and find the person responsible."

"What was painted on the wall?"

"It was a symbol I think… but it was like nothing I have ever seen before. It wasn't Japanese and didn't look like any other language that I recognized. It was just a bunch of black lines and what looked like a half moon. The owner was under the impression that it was a threat to our Kingdom considering."

Sailor Venus paused and looked up towards her queen. It was no secret to the people of Crystal Tokyo that their ruler was actually a descendent of the ancient Moon Kingdom. When Neo-Queen Serenity had purified each of the current citizens of the kingdom and rid them of the last remaining echoes of Queen Metalia one of the unexpected side effects of the cleansing was the instilment of a complete history of the Earth and Moon kingdoms as well as who the Sailors were and the roles they played in those historical events.

At first the Sailors had been worried about how the general public would react to possessing such incredible knowledge. They were afraid that the people would revolt or reject their leadership because they were revealed to be different from them. As time went on, it seemed that those fears were unfounded as the general public's acceptance of the truth about their protectors had actually made life easier for them as it meant that the Sailor team did not have to hide their identities or lie to them.

The mention of the possible threat against the kingdom filled each member of the Sailor team with a sudden sense of alarm. It had been a long time since they had to fight against any sort of major enemy. The memories of Apachite and the resurrected Dark Kingdom still rang loudly inside them, even after nine hundred years. Each of the Sailors exchanged a look of concern with each other with facial expressions that all said the same thing.

Once this meeting was over they were going to start looking for the true meaning behind that symbol and stop any evil that it may represent. Sailor Venus' brief description of the strange symbol caused some of the army soldiers behind them to break their rigid posture for a few seconds as it caused a mental recognition to flash inside each of their brains. During several of their missions, they had seen a symbol that matched her depiction of the image painted on the building's side. . They were aware however that there were far more important things at hand that needed to be dealt with first and now was not the time to tell the king and queen about what they knew about the mysterious symbol. Once their current issue with Carnage was dealt with they would inform Neo Queen Serenity about the information they had about the possibly ominous emblem.

"Ok… after we are done here you will all investigate this hopefully isolated occurrence of juvenile mischief. In the meantime let us get to the matter at hand!"

The Sailors straightened up and stood at attention at the sound of King Endyimon's voice. Their actions mirrored the young Soldiers down on the floor behind them. Neo-Queen Serenity pursed her lips and her bright blue eyes rolled to the outside bottom corners of her eye sockets. She took in a deep breath and held it inside her for longer than what would be considered normal. It was clear by her body language that she was struggling with whatever was troubling her and internally preparing herself to discuss it openly with her friends and guardians.

"It has been recently brought to my attention that someone close to all of us has been acting very strangely. The nature of this erratic behaviour is both disturbing and a cause for considerable concern as to the possible future ramifications if this behaviour is allowed to continue."

"Who are you referring to my queen?"

"Isn't it obvious? Look around you. There is only one person of our inner circle that is not with us."

The looks of shock and surprise spread like wildfire among the Sailors as they all quickly came to realize what Sailor Uranus' observation meant and who Neo-Queen Serenity must have been referring to.

Sailor Jupiter was the most shaken by this disturbing realization. Her husband was being discussed in a negative light and even possibly being accused of harmful behaviour. She simply could not and would not let that happen. Her loyalty to her friends was something that no one would ever question but this was the love of her life. That was a completely different category and one that she would defend against anyone even if that meant speaking out against her best friend and queen!

"You are wrong Serenity. Carnage… Sean is perfectly fine. We have been married for almost four years now. I would be to the first to know if anything was different or wrong with him."

Neo Queen Serenity lifted her head and gestured with her left hand to the two guards standing on either side of the entrance to the royal chamber. Without missing a beat, both of them griped the handles of the doors and pulled them open. The large panels swung open and about a half minute later, two more guards appeared as they escorted a third person into the room.

The Sailors all turned around and looked down towards the approaching group. The two lines of soldiers that stood at the base of the stairs leading up to the first platform turned their heads to look at them but maintained their current body positions. The guards continued to physically push their prisoner until they reached the base of the stairs. Around them, the two lines of former military rangers stood, offering the guards additional security should the criminal break free of their grips.

A few seconds later, Neo Queen Serenity took a visible deep breath. It was more to give her a chance to clear her mind than to ease any nervousness she may have felt. As the future leader of the Earth's people, she couldn't afford to show any signs of weaknesses or have any potential rogue members of her court acting against her orders. In this new world, just like the old one, the public's perception of their leaders is incredibly important. .

"Prisoner, tell us what you told me earlier."

The captured criminal hesitated for a few seconds. His eyes flicked back and forth as he surveyed his surroundings. He had been in jail before and had even escaped from a few of them. He quickly weighted his options. Even if he could break free of the guards holding him, the army men on either side would be on him in no time and he couldn't forget the strong but absurdly dressed women standing above him. If he played by their rules for now, a better opportunity might present itself later on. He looked up at the young blonde haired girl playing dress-up.

"When I was captured in your strike team's leader, I believe his name is Carnage, tried to kill me after he had disarmed me."

"What do you mean tried to kill you?"

"As I am sure most of you are aware, I tried to kill one of these fine American-made soldiers in retaliation for disrupting my budding commercial enterprise. Unfortunately, I missed and wasted a valuable bullet. That was when that red skinned monster became clearly overwhelmed with rage at seeing one of his team members wounded. ."

"That is completely understandable, you thug! He had just seen someone that he has closely worked with for years get shot. Any one of us could or would have reacted the same way. If that is all you have to offer I haven't heard anything that warrants any degree of concern!"

"Sailor Jupiter… please let him finish his report. Please continue but I will not tolerate any more rudeness. "

"The way he reacted was different than what would be allowed by any other law enforcement person. I have seen that kind of rage before several times with the people I used to run around with. He picked me up with one hand and morphed his other arm into a weapon meant to deliver certain death. The look in his white alien eyes was pure hatred and anger. If his team wasn't able to talk him out of his rage—"

The prisoner did not finish his sentence as it was clear to everyone what the unsaid portion was. A few of the Sailors' faces became even tenser as they struggled to comprehend what exactly was being said and how it concerned their close friend. A few awkward seconds passed between the members of the group before King Endyimon broke the silence once again.

"Prisoner… in your opinion what would have happened if the team had not been unable to calm Carnage down?"

"He would have killed me … no question about it my King!"

"Is there anything else you wish to add?"

"Yes. Despite your best efforts, there still exists a criminal world that continues to exist even after the world went to hell. People have been talking and heard stories from people that barely managed to escape your agents' various raids. Apparently, this isn't the first time that your pet monster has almost given into his bloodlust. If I were you, I would put him on a lease or something otherwise all your pretty speeches and illusions of being the shining beacon of hope for this world will be destroyed when the first drop of blood hits the ground because of his actions."

"You are wrong! Carnage would never intentionally kill someone especially in cold blood. You are mistaken in what you saw and heard, you parasite! He is in complete control of his emotions and would never break the solemn oath he pledged to Neo-Queen Serenity. I can't believe we are even seriously talking about this…"

"Jupiter!"

Sailor Jupiter spun her head around and turned to look at Sailor Mercury. She gave her short blue haired friend a look that was one of intense frustration and disappointment directly caused by the accusations being said against her husband. Her face was red and flushed as her nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed into tiny slits. Anyone who knew Sailor Jupiter well enough would recognize this as the warning signs to back off or risk feeling her wrath.

Sailor Mercury's face was red as well but for a completely difficult reason. As she suddenly felt all the eyes of everyone present focusing in on her she began to quickly blush a bright red with embarrassment as she found herself being the centre of attention. In the years since she had discovered her true destiny as the Sailor Soldier of water and wisdom she had come a long way from the shy mousy young girl she had once been. She had matured into a strong and more confident young woman through her many experiences at being a champion of this galaxy. Every so often though, she would revert back to her former self and let her inner shyness come back out. She stayed silent for about a minute as she felt Jupiter's intense stare at her and her quiet 'demanding' as to why she had just spoken up. She steadied her shoulders and successfully regained her inner confidence as she pushed her timidness back deep down inside her.

"I have seen him do it. We all have."

Her eyes drifted over to her right and Sailor Jupiter followed her eyes turning her head as she did so. Sailor Venus, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn all stared back at Jupiter and the look each of them gave her told her that what Sailor Mercury was saying was indeed correct.

Behind them the army Soldiers couldn't see the Sailors' faces but could tell from their body postures what their response had been. Maintaining their stance, they resisted the urge to lower their heads.. It was clear that the realization that they were too late in preventing their respected leader from crossing the point of no return. .

Up above the Sailor Soldiers Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endyimon wore looks of surprise and shock as they were learning of this new information for the very first time just as Sailor Jupiter was. Both of them exchanged looks between each other that said that this situation was far worse than they had both originally thought. She turned back to look down at her guardians with one question screaming inside her head.

"When did this happen?"

"It occurred when we confronted Apachite at his base in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. He had just made his final move to launch all the world's electronically controlled missiles. Carnage moved in to prevent that from happening but was too late. The countdown started and there was nothing any one of us could do to stop it. In desperation Carnage grabbed Apachite and held him up by the throat. He demanded and tried to physically coerce Apachite into telling him how to stop the countdown sequence but all he did was laugh and mock him in response."

Sailor Mercury's description of what had happened in the final moments of the second age of humanity stuck a cord with Dorrin and the other army Soldiers. Carnage had held the amateur drug trafficker in exactly the same fashion after he had shot Apone. It was a bittersweet moment for all of them as it gave their own report more creditability but they would have much more preferred to have been proven wrong about their leader.

Sailor Jupiter, however, was still not convinced. She had stood by and quietly listened as Sailor Mercury, one of her closest friends gave her recollection on her husband's past erratic behaviour. Her arms were firmly crossed and her body weight was shifted onto one leg. Her face was no longer flushed red and her eyes were more open than they had been a few minutes earlier. Her body language remained extremely agitated and at the ready to defend the man that she loved if the discussion shifted back into a realm that she wasn't comfortable with or if she felt someone had stepped over the line with their accusations.

"So he killed Apachite to prevent him from completing his master plan's endgame. We have killed enemies before in battle each and every one of us! Remember Rubeus and the hundreds of monsters, droids and daimons that we have destroyed. Apachite was an enemy and Carnage did what we have done numerous times before. I still don't see what the cause for concern is."

"Jupiter… please try to understand. There was nothing we could have done to stop the missile launches. Apachite had won. He knew it, we knew it and most importantly Carnage knew it too. He was no longer a threat to us and he never seriously tried to fight back or break Carnage's hold on him. He was essentially an unarmed man and could have easily been captured and brought before Sailor Moon to receive proper justice. Carnage chose to impale him with a tendril of his symbiotic costume and then savagely slice him literally almost in half with his claws. We are supposed to be symbols of love and justice. What he did didn't feel like justice, it felt like murder."

Everyone felt the tension in the throne room drop to levels that none of them thought possible. Sailor Jupiter could see that her friend was being completely honest with her description and was not embellishing one single detail in order to emphasize her main point about Carnage's disturbing behaviour. She was still very hesitant to allow herself to believe that what she was hearing was actually true.

"You can't be serious in what you are saying. He would never…"

"Jupiter… he did! He murdered Apachite in cold blood. That scream he let out when he did it… I can still hear that shriek in my nightmares."

Mercury's personal confession made many of the Sailors' blood run ice cold. For the people that had actually been there it brought back memories that they had hoped were lost somewhere deep inside their minds. For the others the tone Sailor Mercury had used when she had been speaking terrified them worse than any horror movie or monster they had ever previously faced. Neo-Queen Serenity bit her lower lip and her grip on King Endyimon's hand tightened as she mentally visualized the images that Mercury had just described.

"Why didn't any of you tell us about this before?"

Sailor Mercury turned her head around and looked up at her queen over her shoulder. Her bright blue eyes were filled with an intense degree of sadness and remorse and she could only manage to look at Neo-Queen Serenity for a few seconds before she had to cast her eyes downward. Beside her Sailors Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Venus all tilted their heads down as well as their feelings of guilt were on par with Sailor Mercury's. Sailor Uranus clenched her fists tightly at her sides as an additional sign of her internal struggle to deal with her 'failure to act'.

"I am sorry Serenity. We didn't have the time to tell you before… well you know. When we were all re-awakened we wanted to tell you but we all got so busy with the establishment of Crystal Tokyo that it kept getting pushed aside. I know that is ultimately no excuse but you have to understand the circumstances."

"Ok… enough! Let us all refocus here."

The voice of King Endyimon silenced everyone in the room and all eyes became instantly fixated up at him. He had been sitting quietly since his earlier comments and listened to everyone as his wife Neo-Queen Serenity, had taken control of the conversation. The reveal of what had occurred between Carnage and Apachite had clearly side-tracked everyone's line of thinking and had thus distracted them from what the real issue was right now.

"We need to stop this before things get any worse. We must also keep in mind that by his own admission Carnage has killed people before. It's true that this was during the time prior to joining the Sailor team and they were all unrepentant killers and human monsters but nevertheless he had a previous history of such actions! We have to ensure that he does not fall back into those habits again!"

"How do you propose we do that my king?"

The look King Endyimon gave everyone standing before him was one of complete seriousness. His eyes seemed to transmit the answer to Sailor Mars' question telepathically first before it became clear to the rest of them. Almost all of the other Sailors came to realize what King Endyimon was alluding to. For the benefit of the army Soldiers still standing at attention behind them King Endyimon vocalized his idea anyways.

"We need to purify Carnage with the Silver Moon Crystal."

"King Endyimon… permission to speak?"

"Permission granted Soldier!"

"Is it my understanding that Carnage was never purified by the Silver Moon Crystal?"

"That is correct Corporal."

"Why wasn't he if I may ask? I thought it was mandatory for all citizens of Crystal Tokyo to be purified by the crystal."

The king and queen exchanged looks between themselves first and then with the Sailors. Corporal Hicks' confusion and question were justifiable and understandable when they considered the circumstances. Corporal Hicks and the soldiers' years of service to the Crystal Kingdom could not be ignored and that meant that they deserved to know the full truth. It would be to no one's benefit to dodge the question or lie to them when they would almost certainly need them in future battles or if their current crisis suddenly turned ugly.

"He and the rest of us weren't formally purified by the Silver Moon Crystal because it was deemed unnecessary due to our multiple exposures to its power in our past battles. In hindsight that assumption was a mistake on our part and one we fully intend to correct as soon as possible, starting with Carnage."

Sailor Jupiter uncrossed her arms and her shoulders visibly dropped. These were the signs of a woman defeated. She knew that she would be unable to neglect her duty to her king and queen and ignore the orders she could sense were coming. She knew the purification process was completely painless and had been conducted on thousands of people of all ages and these were individuals that did not have the enhanced strength or durability that her husband possessed. The physical toll of the purification process was not the problem she was having. It was the symbolic nature of it. It felt like she and the other Sailors were betraying him and calling his loyalty to Crystal Tokyo into question. She shook her head to temporarily quiet the inner turmoil that continued to rage inside her as she saw that Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endyimon were looking at her and waiting to see how she would respond.

"I will go and get Carnage. The sooner we get this done the sooner we can investigate that strange symbol that Venus found and put this whole misunderstanding to rest."

King Endyimon and Neo-Queen Serenity each nodded their heads once to show that they accepted her request to personally carry out the task at hand. Around her, the other Sailors remained silent as they were all fully aware of how difficult this was for their friend. None of them were happy to see one of their own being ordered to bring in another of their close friends simply because they couldn't trust their judgment anymore.

As Sailor Jupiter turned and proceeded to walk towards the staircase that lead down off of the first platform Sailor Mars stepped forward and outstretched her arm. She didn't try to touch or grasp Sailor Jupiter's shoulder as she was unsure of what her friend's reaction to such a gesture might be.

"Jupiter… wait! Let me come with you."

Sailor Jupiter stopped herself from running into Mars' arm and turned her head to look over at her friend. She gave her friend a look that was devoid of any discernible emotion with the exception of just one pain. It was a look that Sailor Mars had seen several times before whenever Jupiter had previously had her heart broken by someone that she had been temporarily interested in during Carnage's long absences. This time however the feeling of anguish was clearly much more intense.

Sailor Jupiter tried to force some sort of small smile across her lips to ease the concern she saw in her friend but was failing to get her mouth muscles to cooperate. Her eyes were glassy as she tried to keep herself from crying as the emotional turmoil her heart was in tried to break through her tough exterior.

"Thank you Mars but I need to do this by myself."

Sailor Mars pursed her lips as she slowly and reluctantly lowered her outstretched arm. A second later Sailor Jupiter moved passed her and hurried down the stairs and out of the throne room. As she rapidly approached them, the pair of royal guards inside the throne room with them and were standing on either side of the exit scrambled to quickly push the door open for her as she stormed out of the throne room. She did not break her stride at all as her mind was completely focused on the task assigned to her and where she needed to go to complete it.

Meanwhile a short distance away from the Crystal Palace, the darkly dressed person lingered again in another alley. They stood in the mouth of the alley that faced towards the Palace and gave the mysterious figure a perfect view of it. From the outside the Crystal Palace looked like a majestic geological structure and was the gleaming symbol of the new world that the Earth had become in the few years that had followed the "Great Sleep".

However inside the Palace was a completely different story. The ominous figure could sense the conflicting feelings of anger, frustration and fear being emitted from the powerful people inside. He possessed empathetic powers among his other abilities such as invisibility. This meant that it could feel the emotions of other people even from great distances away.

'They know that something is amiss in their kingdom. They have found my mark and are going to start their futile attempts to locate me and stop what I have planned.'

It was at that moment that something changed inside the huge glistening crystalline formation. It lifted its head as it felt the emotional change wash over it. One of the individuals somewhere inside that white rock coloured mountain was suddenly radiating a level of personal pain that caused the mysterious figure to stop its current train of thought and take notice. As it focused its mental power to hone in on the specific person who was giving off such a delicious elixir of emotions it quickly realized the identity of the specific person that was leaving the Crystal Palace.

_'It has to be that woman I saw him with… the girlfriend. They must have realized what is happening and sent her to bring him back to the Palace. If that is indeed the case … I must act quickly now. If they are able to purify him with the Silver Moon Crystal I will lose my one and only chance to burn this kingdom to ashes. I must locate him before that woman does.'_

In a blink of an eye the figure dressed all in black caused the air around it to begin to ripple and simmer. In less than a few seconds its body faded from view as it teleported away to begin its desperate search for its intended target.

End of Chapter 3…


	5. Their Worst Nightmare

Chapter 4

It still amazed him just how vast the Crystal Kingdom had become in the few short years of its existence. It had started out as only a mere square mile around the crystalline formation that would become the Crystal Palace. However in its current state it was now easily three times the size of the original city of Tokyo. According to Sailor Mercury's estimates that would mean that the city of Crystal Tokyo covered over forty seven thousand square kilometres.

The most amazing, and by far encouraging, thing about the kingdom was that it was still growing at an accelerated rate even after four years. Every day it seemed more and more people were coming to the kingdom with the hope of living under Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endyimon's benevolent rule. Even more incredible was that several people who had assumed leadership roles in lands far away from the boundaries of the kingdom had pledged allegiance to the king and queen which effectively increased the peace and prosperity on planet Earth that had been prophesied by Sailor Pluto and Chibiusa many years ago.

Sean had never met Chibiusa as she had appeared around the time when he had been away fighting the demon species known as the War Wolves. He had heard a lot about her from Sailor Jupiter and the rest of the Sailors when he had returned to Japan and again after they had reawakened following their long sleep. Everyone was anxiously waiting the day when she would be born and thus be reunited with the team once again as it would mark the official start of the Crystal Millennium.

According to the prophecy Chibiusa would be born when Neo-Queen Serenity turned twenty-two years old. This meant that they had another two years to go before that grand event would occur if the prediction was accurate. Sean knew that all the Sailors were eagerly waiting for that day and their collective enthusiasm was definitely infectious as he found himself raring for that moment as well when he could meet the future guardian of the moon for the first time.

He was walking in an open field that lay on the outskirts of the kingdom's existing territory. He enjoyed coming to areas such as this whenever he could not just to patrol and watch for people travelling to the Crystal Palace but to enjoy the natural beauty that the Earth had created during the Great Sleep. All around him, the scenery and smells of the rolling landscapes reminded him of the calm and peaceful terrains that he had travelled through during his many years of globe-trotting in defence of the planet.

The field around him was teeming with wild flowers of various colours and grass that was high as his waist. A short distance away from him he could see a family of wild deer eating a batch of those flowers and some reddish coloured berries from a patch of thick bushes. In the baby blue sky above him a flock of birds flew silently towards the south as they headed towards the ocean or somewhere else. A gentle breeze blew over the land and caused the tall grass and flowers to sway back and forth.

A few yards in front of him the field rose up into a medium sized ridge that stretched a far distance outwards in both directions along the horizon. When he reached the base of the moderate sized elevation he jogged up the side and reached the top of it in less than a minute. He stopped and placed his red symbiotic-covered hands on his hips. He felt the breeze lightly blow through his short sandy blonde hair again as he stared out towards the east at the rolling hills and huge snow-capped mountains that lay far off in the distance.

He wanted nothing more than to travel the world with his wife and see more of what this planet had created in their long hibernation. However he knew in his heart that would not be happening any time soon. Sailor Jupiter's duty was to protect the King and Queen of Crystal Tokyo and that required her to remain within the kingdom's boundaries at all times. That also meant that he too would remain since he could not stand to be apart from her for any long period of time.

"I knew I would find you out here."

Sean turned around as a bright smile stretched across his face. His eyes lit up as he recognized the owner of the voice. His dark blue eyes focused in and locked with the radiant green eyes of Sailor Jupiter. She was standing on the top of the horizontal mound a few feet away from him. Her skills at stealth had improved by leaps and bounds since he had first met her as he had honestly not heard her approach behind him. She gave him a soft smile and her eyes quickly became glassy as the feelings of love and passion swelled up inside her as she looked at the man that she loved with all her heart.

"You are good at that. I am sure if you were blind you would still be able to find me!"

Sailor Jupiter didn't bother to vocalize a response to his tender remark. She instead walked slowly up to him and took his hands in hers. He intertwined his fingers with hers and held them up and against the thick red alien skin that covered his chest. They looked into each other's eyes and the love and closeness between them instantly magnified. She leaned in and gently pressed her lips against his. Upon contact, the touch of her soft lips caused an immediate surge of bioelectricity to flow through both of their bodies and sent tingles to the tips of their fingers and toes. The kiss lasted for about a minute as neither of them wanted the incredible moment they were sharing together to end.

When it finally did come to an end she broke the connection and tilted her head back which allowed Sean to see her entire face. He stared lovingly at her as his eyes scanned in all directions to take in all the natural beauty that her face radiated. He smiled at her like a person truly in love at first but, as he continued to study her face and the look in her emerald green eyes, his smile faded as his internal senses began to quickly pick up on something.

"What is wrong?"

"Neo-Queen Serenity has asked that you come back to the Palace right away."

"Okay, that is no problem. Let's go then."

Sean let go of one of her hands but still maintained a grip on the other one. He started heading in the direction of where Crystal Tokyo was located while getting pulling her along with him. Sailor Jupiter bit her lower lip and her eyes flared as internal conflict that raged inside her continued. She let out a sigh as she planted her feet firmly into the ground and used her exceptional physical strength to stop her movement. He was caught by surprise by the sudden exertion of physical force and he jerked backwards when his forward momentum was suddenly halted. He turned back to look at her with a look of confusion on his face.

"Why did you stop?"

"Sean, I need to tell you something…"

Sean's eyes lit up again as he saw the telltale signals that something big was going on. He quickly came to realize the seriousness of the situation and put his body into full alert mode. He first noticed the tone of her voice. It did not contain any of her usual joyous upbeats or her care-free energy. It was instead filled with sadness and more than a few hints of regret. When added with the rest of her body language, it backed up that observation as she was appearing to be very closed off. She was even turning her body away from him and she was unable to look at him directly for very long now. Another signal he had noticed was her use of his former name. Just like how she and the other Sailors had all abandoned their former civilian identities so too had he. They only used their former names in times of serious discussions or intense emotional outbursts and usually as a display of concern or happiness mostly.

"Makoto, my love, talk to me. What is troubling you?"

"The Queen wants you to go to the Palace so that she can purify you with the Silver Moon Crystal. There have been several reports of you losing control of your symbiote and she can't ignore them any longer."

"She wants to make sure that I am not tainted by the evil energy of the entity of Chaos?"

Sean let go of her hand and turned his back to her. She could tell that he was upset as she had predicted he would be. She could honestly say that she would feel the same way if their positions were reversed and he or one of their friends questioned her loyalty to the king and queen or the Crystal Kingdom in general.

"I guess that is what she wants to do. I am really sorry that this is happening. I tried to defend you and tell them that you are devoted to what this kingdom represents. I tried to convince them that your loyalties have always and continue to remain the same—"

"Well you clearly didn't try hard enough! I have been on the front lines for many of the major battles that this planet has incurred and saved it from destruction several times. I have risked my life countless times and faced monsters that would make even Sailor Uranus shiver with fear. I saved our queen from certain death from a lord of Hell and have been instrumental in building and establishing this kingdom from the very start. But all that apparently doesn't mean anything just because I lost my temper a few times while in the heat of battle!"

Sailor Jupiter looked at him with a look of complete shock and terror. After she had made her comment about trying to defend him his symbiote had reared up and covered his head to become the white eyed, large mouth and virtually featureless alien face of Carnage. He had then spun around and looked at her with an angry and almost predatory stare. It truly scared her when he looked at her with that look in his white pupil-less eyes and the rage-filled tone of his voice that he had yelled at her with. For the very first time she could now see what Venus and the others had been talking about earlier. Something was definitely wrong with her husband.

After a few intense seconds that followed his verbal outburst and stare down with Sailor Jupiter his body visually relaxed and the symbiotic skin around his head retreated and returned to its original resting place at the base of his neck. He shook his head as if he were shaking off a headache or a bad dream. When he looked back up at Jupiter and saw the look of shock and fear on her face he became remorseful as he felt his blood drop in temperature and body become numb all over. He rushed up to her but stopped a couple of feet in front of her. He reached out with his hands and took hold of hers. He waited for her eyes to lock with his before saying anything.

"Honey, I am so sorry! I don't know what came over me. I am fine now I swear. It really does mean a lot to me that you still believe in me when everyone else seems to have their doubts. If getting purified will mean that all this will be firmly put to rest and we can all get back to building and maintaining this kingdom I will gladly do it."

Sailor Jupiter let a smile appear on her face but it was small and somewhat forced. She knew that it was indeed her husband talking to her now and not the monster that she had briefly seen just now. She had to get him back to Neo-Queen Serenity as soon as possible because the anger or whatever it was that was causing these losses of control were clearly getting worse if he could lash out at her like he had just done. She took his outstretched hand and proceeded to follow him as they once again attempted to head down the hill and begin their journey back to the Crystal Palace.

"Ah, there you are! I have finally found you!"

Sailor Jupiter and Sean both spun around and looked back up at the top of the grass-covered mound. Standing where they had just been was a figure dressed completely in black clothing. It was clear from the tone and pitch of its voice that the figure was a male and of a young adult age. His face was mostly obscured by the over-sized hood he wore over his head. Even from the upward angle of their position and the bright mid-morning sunlight neither Sean nor Jupiter could clearly see his face.

"Who are you? What business do you have in Crystal Tokyo?"

The male figure did not verbally respond to Sailor Jupiter's demand. He instead outstretched his arms and his hands became visible as they extended beyond the edges of the baggy jacket. This further let both Sailor Jupiter and Sean see that the mysterious man was Caucasian. Almost purple and black coloured lightning crackled between his extended fingers. For Sean, it was hard not to see the resemblance between this potential enemy and his wife in terms of their apparent use of electricity. It also brought back images of an evil emperor he had seen in a series of movies about a great war that took place in outer space that he remembered watching as a young boy.

The power and intensity of the sinister looking lightning continued to noticeably build up until the smell of ozone became unmistakeable in their vicinity. Sean knew that there had to be something more to this person's abilities then just simply controlling a basic element of nature. If this person wished to cause trouble in Crystal Tokyo he would need more than the power of electricity to accomplish that. He was sure that this ominous had more magical powers which meant that he and Sailor Jupiter had to stay on alert.

The man raised his hands to the sky and dark clouds began to instantly form above him which turned the sky a dark grey like what happens during a thunderstorm. Within a matter of seconds, the surrounding landscape all around them grew dark as the sun's light became blocked by the clearly un-natural clouds. It was the exclamation point to the clear statement that evil had finally found its way to Crystal Tokyo.

Meanwhile, back at the Crystal Palace, Sailor Mars and Neptune jerked up from their spots in the Serenity Garden which was located at the top of the middle spire of the palace. Around them, the other Sailors were all there as well and were sitting around the tall central fountain that was the main focal point of the garden area. They had come there to wait for Sailor Jupiter to return with Carnage and also to give their king and queen some privacy. Each of them noticed the sudden movements of their two team mates and rushed to take positions on either side of them to see what had caused such a reaction.

"The sea is roaring. A great storm is upon us!"

"I feel an evil presence nearby. I haven't felt anything like this for a long time. This is very bad!"

"Then what are we waiting for. Let's move!"

In a flash Neptune and Mars stood up and turned towards the exit. Without saying a word, they both used their individual psychic abilities to hone on the source of the evil energy they were sensing. Close behind them the other Sailors ran behind them and kept pace with them as they exited the garden first and then the palace. Moving as fast as they could, they ran through the streets of the city as they head towards the eastern part of the city.

Back at the grassy field Sailor Jupiter and Sean were doing their best to hide their nervousness as they continued to closely watch their opponent. Sean covered his head in the symbiotic skin and once again transformed back into Carnage. High above them, the magically electrical energy that their enemy was manipulating between his hands was beginning to collect together and form a large white and blue flashing sphere of ominous-looking power above his head.

Then without any warning the man suddenly lowered his arms down and threw the energy orb directly at where Sailor Jupiter and Carnage were standing. Instinctively Carnage threw his body towards Jupiter and used his momentum to push her out of the way. However this noble act of selflessness left him directly in the sphere's path and it struck him full force in the centre of his body.

Sailor Jupiter felt Carnage push her to safety but couldn't stop herself from falling completely to the ground. In the darkened and dim area that surrounded them her eyes caught the unmistakeable flashes of light and her ears heard the scream that followed that told her that he had been hit by their enemy's attack. It was almost the exact same scream she remembered hearing when he had saved her from Gaap's hellfire breath. She quickly pushed herself up from her current position on her stomach and turned to look at where Carnage had just been. What she saw when her eyes fixated on the spot she had last seen him filled her first with shock and then intense anger.

Carnage was encased in the blueish energy sphere that looked more than a bubble now. From what she could see, the surface of the orb was semi-transparent which allowed her to see what was going on inside. He was suspended in its centre with his feet and hands not touching the internal side of the sphere. His body was tilted backwards and his arms were hanging straight down which showed her that his body was limp. This gave him the appearance that he was paralyzed or even unconscious and had no control over his body.

However Sailor Jupiter knew that he was definitely not knocked out as every few seconds, a surge of electrical-like energy shot out from the inside walls of the bubble and struck him from multiple directions at the same time. Each round of magical bolts caused him to scream out in a heart-wrenching tone that tore at the very fibre of her soul. She spun around and looked up at the man that was attacking them. She locked her bright green eyes on him and addressed him in a manner that clearly demonstrated the level of fury she was feeling right now after seeing her husband's current torturous state.

"Release him now!"

"No! I am enjoying this far too much! Your boyfriend has caused me too much grief for far too long now. I finally have the chance to repay him and the people of this kingdom that he foolishly protects back for his interference."

"Wrong answer you bastard! My guardian Jupiter! Brew a storm! Call the clouds! Bring down the lightning!"

Sailor Jupiter crossed her arms over her chest with her index and pinky fingers fully extended while the rest of her fingers were clenched tightly into a fist. As she mentally concentrated on gathering the necessary energy the tiny lightning rod hidden inside the middle part of her tiara rose up. High above her a bolt of lightning broke through the unnatural black clouds and rained down from the sky striking the tip of the rod. Upon the lightning making contact with it, the antenna's top crackled with the collected electrical energy. It was then that Sailor Jupiter threw her arms outward and shot the electric energy toward the sinister warlock.

"Supreme Thunder!"

The blast hit the heavily shrouded man with incredible-looking and violent force. However despite the impressive visual display, it did not kill him. Instead her attack only managed to stun him and cause him to drop down to one knee. Tiny pillars of smoke billowed up from his clothing as a result of the release of heat from the attack's impact. Other than that there were no other signs of any physical damage or signs that Sailor Jupiter's assault had any other effect on him.

The evil wizard lifted his head and for the first time since his initial appearance Sailor Jupiter could see more of his face. He was a white Caucasian male and he looked like he was in his late twenties or early thirties. She couldn't see the top part of his face but she could see his mouth and right now it was twisted upwards into a cruel-looking smile.

"You have accomplished nothing you silly little sow! You can't stop what has already been put into motion. Soon this kingdom will be bathed in blood and absolute panic. All that you stand for will be stripped away and the world you are trying to save will be restored back to its former glory!"

"I have heard similar boosts before and we have stopped everyone that has said them!"

"We will see if you are still so confident when you see what I have done."

Before she could respond to his snide remark a loud and beastial scream came from behind her. She spun around as she hoped that what she was thinking was not what had actually happened. She had been so focused on the man that was attacking them for the last few minutes that she had completely tuned out the screams of pain coming from her husband. This last howl was very different from the previous ones. She had heard her husband in pain before with the two most memorable moments being when he had saved her from the demon prince`s fire attack and when he was later captured and tortured by it. This inhuman bellow was much more animalistic and was perhaps what she would imagine would be the correct definition of alien-like.

When she turned around to look at what was happening behind her and if Carnage was alright a small gasp escaped her lips as her eyes took in the scene. The energy bubble was gone and had apparently disappeared completely from sight. Carnage was down on the ground on his hands and knees. From the way he had landed when the orb had vanished, it had caused him to be positioned with his body facing away from Sailor Jupiter. His head was tilted down much like what the average person might do if they were physically exhausted. He was breathing heavy and his torso visibly expanded outwards with greater than normal exertion.

She slowly approached him but was very cautious as she do so. As she drew nearer to him she could see his symbiotic finger claws digging deep grooves into the loose soil underneath him as he opened and closed them. She dismissed it as a physical coping mechanism for the pain she was sure was still racking the inside of his body. Seeing her husband like this caused her demeanour to change from the warrior-state she had just been in to the role of concerned friend and wife. When she reached him she knelt down beside him and placed one of her white gloved hands on his upper back.

"Sean, are you ok?"

She felt the large muscles underneath the symbiotic tissue tense up and flex beneath her palm. She looked towards the spot where her hand was to see what might be causing the sudden physical reactions that she was feeling. It was then that a sudden series of moments caught her attention and she returned her gaze back to his head.

The red symbiotic skin around his head began to swirl and flow faster than what was normal. She and instinctively took her hand off of his back as her body's 'flight or fight' response began to react to the overwhelming surge of fear that was rapidly building up inside her. She wasn't gifted with the psychic abilities her friends Neptune and Mars had but there was something inside her that she couldn't begin to explain that was screaming at her to get away from Carnage right now. Before she could physically respond thou her fears were confirmed as a series of words came from the one person that she had willfully and lovingly devoted the rest of her life too.

"Sean is gone. There is only Carnage!"

End of Chapter 4…


	6. The Monster Unleashed

Chapter 5

Sailor Jupiter jumped backwards with a clumsy hop before falling onto her butt as she reacted to the half dozen arrow-tipped tendrils that shot out and up at her. The barrage of symbiotic lances missed her head and chest by only a few inches. As soon as she landed she began to scamper away from her attacker by using her hands and feet. She was trying desperately to put as much distance between Carnage and her as she could. Her face was a look of absolute horror as she kept her eyes glued to her opponent as she did not dare let him out of her sight for even a second. She was still struggling frantically to comprehend what had just happened and what was occurring now. Her mind raced feverishly as she quickly replayed the events of the last three minutes.

A mysterious and clearly evil young man had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and proceeded to first darken the immediate area with thick black clouds before launching a powerful looking energy orb at them. Carnage had valiantly pushed her out of harm's way but had ended up taken the full force of the attack himself as a result. The nature of their opponent's attack had confused her at first as it did not explode on impact or physically damage Carnage. The energy sphere had instead become a semi-transparent bubble and had proceeded to periodically zap him with powerful and extremely painful looking bursts of mystic lightning.

She had originally thought that the bubble was draining his life energy which was a tactic that many of their past enemies had used before. Her response had been to launch a counter-attack at the young wizard in the hopes that she could release her husband from his spell by eliminating him or at the very least break her concentration so the bubble could no longer be maintained. She had managed to hit him directly with her Supreme Thunder attack but it did not have the desired results she had been hoping for. Her electric assault had only been successful in moderately weakening the black clad mystic but not ending the magical attack he was continuing to conduct on her husband. However when the orb mysteriously disappeared seemingly on its own after about a minute and a half the true nature of the sorcerer's attack had become terrifyingly clear to her.

As she finished her mental recall of the past few minutes Carnage sprung up to his feet and turned to face her. His large mouth quickly twisted into a cruel and malevolent smile. The glare in his large solid white eyes was different and contained something that she had never seen before insanity. Sailor Jupiter scrambled herself up into a standing position and went into a defensive stance with her hands up at the ready and her feet firmly planted against the ground. Her eyes narrowed into tiny slits and her lips pursed together into a thin horizontal line. She tried to maintain her usual serious and tough composure but deep inside her she was terrified beyond all measure. Her husband was one of the best hand to hand combatants she had ever seen. His symbiotic partner's powers allowed him to attack from multiple directions at once in addition to a plethora of other abilities. This made him extremely dangerous in close quarters and severely limited her defensive options in she allowed him to get too close to her.

She knew that she could not attempt to block any of his physical attacks or she would risk having her limbs sliced off by one of his seemingly infinite symbiotic weapons. She couldn't get close to him to try and strike him without taking the very risky gamble that she might get stabbed or impaled from a weapon that protruded from somewhere on his body that she would not see coming.

As she looked at the monster that taken over her husband's body she desperately tried to hold on to the belief that somewhere inside that creature was the man that she loved. She had to try and reach him somehow if she was to have any hope of breaking the brain-washing magic that her real enemy had cast on him. She decided to see if directly addressing the man underneath the living alien costume might be enough to shake the spell's hold on him.

"Sean, I know you are in there. Please, stop this!"

"Stop? Why on Earth would I want to do that?"

"Please Sean. I don't want anyone to get hurt."

"No one will get hurt? Man! Where's the fun in that?"

In a flash of movement Carnage placed his hands down on the ground and launched himself at Sailor Jupiter like a feral jungle cat. His mouth was open wide like a lion getting ready to deliver the death bite to the poor animal it had selected to be its prey. His arms were outstretched in front of him with the razor-sharp claws poised and ready to sink into the soft flesh of her torso.

Sailor Jupiter managed to jump out of the way in the nick of time with again only a few inches to spare. Her reaction time was slower than usual as she was still distracted by having to fight for her life against her husband. Her brain was still struggling to deal with the sudden change in events. Her lack of focus caused her body to land improperly from her evasive maneuver and sent her teetering backwards. She landed on her butt once again but she had no time to curse herself for being sloppy and uncoordinated as her eyes caught a sudden and abrupt blur of red-ish movement.

She jerked her head up and saw Carnage twisting around from the crouched position he had landed in following his predatory lunge. He stood back up and looked down at her. As he did so he extended both of his arms out to the sides. Instantly his left hand morphed into a large pickaxe while the other changed into morning star mace. As soon as the instruments of death had solidified he rushed towards her.

He covered the distance between them in a few strides and swung the pickaxe down at where she was sitting when he came within striking distance. In response Sailor Jupiter pushed herself back and barely avoided the point of the pointed instrument. It struck the ground in between her long legs but it was still far too close for comfort. She had no time to breathe as the mace hand came down almost after the pickaxe hand made contact with the ground. This forced her to move back along the ground again. Just like before she just barely managed to avoid a direct hit but the pitch axe hand had been given enough time to be raised again and come back down at her. She kept moving backwards on her hands and feet in a frantic and clumsy crab-like fashion as she continued to avoid the alternating tools of death but still being unable to get back to her feet and mount any sort of offensive of her own to halt the deadly assault.

"Carnage, stop please. This isn't you! Don't you remember who I am?

"Correction beautiful lady. This is me the real me! I'm Carnage! That's who I am! As for who you are, you are just the first victim of the true Carnage!"

"Carnage! Stop toying with her and kill her quickly! The other Sailors will be here soon."

Carnage stopped his assault on Sailor Jupiter and looked up at the top of the grassy mound. Sailor Jupiter took the opportunity that had been given to her to put some distance between her and him. When she was felt she was far enough away she too looked up at the only other person present in the area. Her green eyes focused in on the person responsible for corrupting her husband into this murderous monster.

The young man dressed all in black was continuing to be slow in his recovery from her earlier thunder attack. He was still down on one knee but his upper body was more erect than it had been and his forearms were resting on the top of his bent knee. He was glaring down at both of them with an intense stare from his seemingly black eyes. His mouth was curled upwards into a malicious-looking sneer. Sailor Jupiter felt a small tingle of nervousness flow through her insides as she recognized that particular look. She had been on the receiving end of that very same expression more times than she wanted to remember by a large number of their past enemies.

Carnage on the other hand stood up straighter and all but abandoned his attack posture as he seemingly forgot all about Sailor Jupiter. He engaged into a staring contest with the malevolent young man for several seconds before breaking out into a fit of insane laughter. His mace weapon melted away and turned back into its original humanoid shape while the pickaxe weapon remained firmly in place.

"Ahhh… the man that made me what I am today! I suppose I should thank you for that!"

Before the young mystic could respond to his comment Carnage quickly extended his non-weaponized arm forward. A thick strand of symbiotic material shot out of the end of his limb and moved at high speed towards its target. As the end of the pseudopod got closer it morphed into a large solid square block. It struck the man directly in the centre of his chest and knocked him backwards and out of their view as he fell down the other side of the mound Sailor Jupiter guessed.

The tendril retracted back to the main body after it made contact and the square block quickly reformed once again into its usual five fingered hand shape. At the same time the pickaxe hand also returned to the humanoid form as well. Once the changes were completed Carnage put his arms back down at his sides and let an exaggerated sigh pass through his non-existent lips.

"Ah well… a faint heart never won anything but a dull and boring life. Now where were we?"

Sailor Jupiter knew instantly that her brief rest period was now over. She had to come up with some sort of strategy to keep her alive as she had now run out of both time and options. She couldn't keep being on the defensive because sooner or later Carnage would physically connect with her and when that happened it would be all over. Her only option was to take the offensive and hopefully either knock him out or perhaps even undo what the mysterious man had done to him with a literal shock to his system. She absolutely hated that it had come to this with everything inside her but she simply had no choice now. If she didn't do something now she was unequivocally sure that he would kill her without a second thought if given the chance.

Carnage stalked towards her as his black toothed grin sent shivers up and down her spine as he looked directly at her as he approached. His fingers repeatedly opened and closed which was a sign of his growing excitement over what he hoped was about to occur. Sailor Jupiter didn't let him see her nervousness as she needed complete focus. She waited until he got within three feet of her. This was a very dangerous gamble to let him get that close to her but it was her best chance to ensure that he didn't have any time to counter her tactic.

She sprang into action when he reached his arm back and created a long curved blade from his left arm. As he swung it in a deadly downward arch towards her she dropped to the ground which caused the blade to pass harmlessly over her. In one fluid motion she straightened her leg outwards and swung her body in a circular motion to perform a smooth leg sweep.

Her desperate martial arts-inspired move paid off as the top part of her shin connected perfectly with the outside area of his ankle. The force of the momentum generated by her enhanced Sailor strength was enough to successfully knock his feet out from under him and send him crashing backwards to the ground. As he fell hard against the grass-covered field Sailor Jupiter quickly got up on her hands and feet and poised herself like a jungle cat ready to pounce about two feet away from him. When he sat up she launched and successfully landed a perfect side kick that connected with the underside of his chin. The impact of her knee-high white boot snapped his head back and sent him back down to the ground. As soon as her foot finished its lateral arch she jumped back up to her feet and began to focus her mental concentration.

"Jupiter Oak Evolution!"

She quickly collected the life energy from the surrounding plants and flowers. She focused the gathered mass of organic force into the tip of the antenna in the middle of the tiara just as she had earlier when she used her 'Supreme Thunder' attack. The top of the rod began to glow green as the amount of energy quickly accumulated and grew. When she felt she had gathered enough life force she began to spin around on the soles of her white boots like a ballerina with her arms stretched up above her head. As she spun around in place, blasts of leaf-shaped green energy shot out from her tiara's antenna and headed directly for the spot where Carnage was sitting back up again at that exact moment. He saw the multiple projectiles coming at him and quickly threw up an oval-shaped shield with a quick morph and merger of his hands. The rapid succession of the numerous impacts as the jade projectiles struck his shield and the resulting forward momentum and power generated by them sent his body sailing backwards as he did not have the time to properly plant his feet to the ground.

He skidded along the rough terrain for a couple of yards and left a visible trench in the dirt as his body's tough skin bore through the rock and dirt of the soil. He dug several tendrils from the sides of his rib cage and legs into the ground as he was propelled backwards which halted his body's slide. When he had come to a complete stop he threw his head up and looked back at her. His mouth was snarling in her direction as red drool dribbled out of the corners of his mouth.

"Now that wasn't very nice! Is that anyway to treat the man you love?"

"You're not him! But mark my words I am going to get him back!"

"Ohhh… I like your spunk! It will make your death all the more enjoyable!"

Carnage got back up to his feet. He looked down at his left arm and then back at her. He extended his arm out as he lifted his head. The palm of his hand turned upwards to the sky and his fingers became bent at the knuckles so that they were standing straight up. With a quick backwards snap of his fingers, the claws at the end of each of the fingers instantly elongated into a long spike. From her spot a short distance away Sailor Jupiter could tell that that the pointed tips of the finger gaffs were razor-sharp as they almost gleamed in the little natural light that was still presently around them.

'_All that's missing is the animated sparkle at the end of each one._'

She mentally kicked herself as she knew that it wasn't the time to be thinking of such ridiculous things. She had to keep her mind on her opponent or she would get sloppy in her movements again which could lead to her death. She snapped her focus back as he raised his head and cast his gaze back onto her.

"Got your will in order?"

He threw his arm out towards her before she could respond. The miniature organic lances shot forward as the symbiotic material covering his arm grew and extended at lightning speed. It covered the distance between Carnage and Sailor Jupiter in a less than two seconds. In response she jumped high into the air as the finger spikes passed underneath her. She twisted her body in mid-air and landed again in a perfect crouched position with her eyes facing right at him. She sprung into another jump before her feet fully settled to the ground. Calling upon her many years of kung fu and martial arts training she fully extended her right leg and got the rest of her body into the proper position for a textbook flying kick.

"Sailor Jupiter Kick!"

Her kick was placed perfectly as her white knee-high boot hit him square in the chest. A loud grunt escaped from his mouth as the air was forced out of his lungs by the kick's impact. She landed in front of him and sprang upwards to connect with a two-punch combination. She first threw an upwards backhand with her left hand then a vicious teeth rattling uppercut with the right. The vertical blow of her second strike lifted him off of his feet as her enhanced strength paired perfectly with the temporary distraction that her two previous hits had caused. Carnage landed hard onto the ground once again with a loud thud. Sailor Jupiter barely stopped to register the sound as her mind raced to plan out her next offensive strategy.

As it turned out Carnage recovered much faster than she had anticipated. He quickly sat up and shot some jagged pieces of his symbiote from his chest up at her. She instinctively jumped up into the air again and twisted her body like an Olympic gymnast to avoid the deadly barrage of organic darts. However the large number of red projectiles acted like a shotgun blast and spread out into a wide cluster which made it impossible to avoid them all.

Three of the crimson pellets grazed the side of her body one just above the left side of her hip and another striking her in the middle of her right thigh. The third dart hit her in the front of her right shoulder. It cut deep into the muscle tissue and rendered her right arm completely useless. The wounds left by the other two razor-edged darts cut deep into her flesh as they passed by her. They drew a large amount of blood and quickly proceeded to stain her Sailor suit an ugly cherry colour. She closed her eyes as she winced before letting a guttural scream escape her mouth as the intense feeling of pain reached her brain a few seconds after she was hit. The adrenaline coursing through her veins was acting as a temporary pain killer delaying the feeling of anguish from being registered by her mind. She collapsed into a heap on the ground when she finally landed as her injured right leg gave way underneath her as it quickly failed to support her body weight.

"He shoots… he scores! The crowd goes wild!"

Carnage flapped his arms up and down like an athlete looking for the attending spectators' approval. He was even so arrogant as to turn his back on her as he did so. It was his way of showing her that he was not the least bit worried about her and that he had absolutely no respect for her or the challenge she posed towards him. His childish actions only served to further convince Sailor Jupiter that this was not the man she loved as her true husband would never make such a cocky move when engaged in any sort of battle.

He hammed it up to the imaginary crowd for a few more seconds before spinning back around to look at her. As he completed his turn multiple strands of symbiotic tissue and tendrils shot out from various points along his chest, arms and legs. Sailor Jupiter would normally have been able to avoid such a tactic with her augmented Sailor speed and agility but the deep abrasion in her right leg's thigh muscles made moving next to impossible and thus slowed her reaction time down considerably.

The symbiotic pseudopods wrapped tightly around her and binding her arms to her sides and her legs together which left her completely at his mercy. Carnage retracted the strands back into his body and pulled her along with them until she was practically face-to-face with him. Up close his breath smelled like rotting meat and his white eyes flashed and flared with the unmistakable gleam of pure evil and complete madness.

"Dinner Time!"

The fear of her impending death terrified her. She had faced her own mortality several times and been actually killed on a couple of occasions during her career as Sailor Soldier. She closed her eyes and let a single tear drop down her cheek from her right eye. If this was how she was going to die she didn't want to see it coming.

"Crescent beam!"

"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"

"Deep Submerge!"

A thin yellow laser beam struck the middle of the tendrils holding Sailor Jupiter that ran from Carnage's body to hers. It cut through some of the strands which made them lose much of their tensile strength. A second later a jet of ice water splashed over her and completely drenched her. It flash froze the symbiotic bonds that were wrapped around her. The extremely cold water temporarily made the red alien restraints very brittle which allowed Sailor Jupiter the opportunity to flex the muscles in her arms and shatter them into many pieces. Carnage let out a 'yelp' of pain as his symbiote reacted to her sudden escape and its appendages being violently broken apart. He didn't have any time to further respond as the final attack struck him dead centre in the upper torso. The large baby blue sphere of concentrated water energy sent him hurdling back against the side the grassy mound behind him. He struck it with incredible force and caused a noticeable dent to form in the side of the ridge underneath him. He slumped down as his body went limp as the impact temporarily stunned him.

The newly arrived Sailors rushed towards their fallen friend who was struggling to stand up on her injured leg. Her Sailor uniform was torn and in tatters in several places which exposed her white skin underneath. She was bleeding profusely from several locations along her legs, arms and central core area. Apparently when Carnage had wrapped her up in his symbiotic tendrils, he had also made the strands jagged and thorny like barbed wire. The sharp barbs and points had dug into her flesh and costume as they held her which added another level of sadistic horror to the already nerve-racking encounter. Sailor Uranus and Mars held up their battered team mate as her body struggled to recover from the sudden loss of blood and the internal shock of being hit with the freezing cold water.

"Jupiter, what the hell is going on?" Sailor Mars intently asked.

"We were attacked, something happened to Carnage. He has been corrupted, gone insane—" Sailor Jupiter replied back.

"What? Attacked by whom?" Sailor Venus inquired, not waiting for Sailor Jupiter to fully finished her answer.

"Some man with magical powers. Carnage knocked him to the other side of the mound. I don't think he is dead though." Sailor Jupiter informed her, nodding her head towards the grassy hill.

Suddenly an unearthly screech cut through the mid-morning air and the Sailors quickly turned their heads towards where the sound was coming from. Carnage was bounding towards them down on his hands and knees like some wild jungle cat. When he was close enough he pushed off with his legs and pounced forward like a tiger. It quickly became clear that he was aiming for Sailor Mars as his intent was to tackle her down to the ground and more than likely eviscerate her if given the chance. Sailor Mars quickly let go of Sailor Jupiter and let Sailor Uranus took her friend's full body weight. She stood her ground and planted her white boots firmly into the ground. She reached behind her and pulled out a thin piece of paper with large Japanese lettering on it. She held the paper close to her face and closed her eyes.

"Rin, Pyou, Tou, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen! Evil spirit begone!"

She threw the paper at the rapidly advancing Carnage as the last word left her lips and it landed square in the middle of his face in the think space between his large white eyes. He stopped his charge and remained completely still as if he was frozen in place which was often the main result of Sailor Mars''Akuryo Taisan' attack. The other Sailors relaxed their bodies as they looked at the still form of their unexpected opponent from their various positions around the field. Their faces all reflected their collective cautiousness given what little they knew about their current situation. Sailor Uranus and Neptune were clearly skeptical that Sailor Mars' attack had indeed achieved what it appeared it had.

"That was too easy."

"I agree Uranus."

"We don't have time to second guess ourselves. We need to quickly get him back to the Crystal Palace so Neo-Queen Serenity can heal him."

Sailor Uranus and Neptune nodded their heads in acknowledgement of Sailor Mercury's comment. Normally Sailor Jupiter and Uranus would be the ones that did the heavy lifting but with Jupiter being severely injured, Neptune was the next strongest of the available Sailors. Both of them had great reservations about getting in such close proximity to Carnage when his current status was questionable. However as Sailor Mercury had pointed out, they did not have the luxury of time and each second that passed was perhaps one second closer to Carnage breaking the hold Mars' spell had on him, if it had indeed worked.

They approached him from the left and right. Their eyes consistently scanned every inch of him as they kept themselves ready to move at a moment's notice if he even so much as twitched. When they got to within a foot of him they exchanged a look between them and silently decided on a method to transport him. They knelt down together and put their hands underneath him. They grasped each other's wrists in a crisscross pattern which formed an 'X' underneath him. They were just about to stand up and thus lift him using their Sailor-enhanced strength when they heard something that put them in full alert mode.

"Ohhhh… I felt a tickle!"

Sailor Uranus and Neptune's eyes flapped wide open and they instantly let go of each other's wrists. As they jumped back from him Carnage shot out four razor sharp blades from the middle of his back. Two of those blades were aimed at Uranus and the other two at Neptune. In their current kneeling position they couldn't move as quickly as they normally would have if they had been standing. One of the blades cut deep into the side of Neptune's ribcage as she tried to twist her body out of the incoming weapons' path. Sailor Uranus had the same idea but was slightly faster than her partner. The blades coming at her narrowly missed at scoring a direct hit. The smooth sharp edges of the organic blades sliced across the side of her left arm and right shoulder. They were superficial wounds and not life-threatening but were still deep enough to draw an unsettling amount of blood. The realization that her body had ended up between the blades and she had barely avoided a fatal strike to her head or torso was not lost on her.

Carnage remained crouched down on his hands and knees as he proceeded to laugh manically as he took in the results of his surprise attack. Sailor Neptune was curled up into a fetal position on the ground a few feet away from him. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her head was down as she felt an intense pang of pain each time her ribs expanded and contracted with each breath. On the other side of him Sailor Uranus was down on one knee. Her left hand was covering the wound on her right shoulder and blood could be seen seeping through her fingers as it stained her white gloves. The deep cut on her arm was dripping blood to the ground and quickly forming a small puddle underneath her. Her head was up and she had a fierce look on her face which only grew in its intensity when she saw her partner and lover's current situation. Carnage looked right back at her but didn't seem the least bit un-nerved by her 'death stare'. In fact he appeared to be relishing it.

He stood up and took a step towards Sailor Uranus. As he approached her he held up his left hand in front of him. As he continued to stalk towards her the tension and the faint smell of fear quickly filled the air. Two curved spikes grew out of the back of his raised hand like a pair of bladed samurai gauntlets. He saw her eyes flash as she took note of the new weapon her opponent was now wielding. All around him tendrils and pseudopods waved and wiggled around him like snakes dancing to a charmer's musical instrument. When he came within striking distance of her he pulled his arm back in preparation to thrust it forward and drive the points of the spikes into her head.

"What colour do you bleed Sailor?"

As he brought his hand down in its deadly swipe a bright orange light suddenly illuminated both of their bodies in the limited light that the supernaturally created black clouds above them allowed. A second later a long slender object struck the attacking hand of Carnage and passed through his symbiotic skin like a hot knife through butter. It was followed quickly by a loud verbal announcement that was a blessing to Sailor Uranus.

"Mars Flame Sniper!"

The smell of burning organic material and temporarily wave of intense heat was felt by Sailor Uranus. It was instantly followed by an inhuman howl from Carnage as he clutched his injured arm and brought it close to his body where he cradled it with his other arm. He turned around to look at where the attack had come from as his white eyes flashed with both anger and frustration at having his kill interrupted.

Behind him and a short distance away Sailor Mars stood. Her body was still in the archer position she went into when performing her 'Flame Sniper' attack. Right now she had another flaming arrow at the ready and it was aimed directly at him. Her violet coloured eyes were focused and the look on her face told everyone that she was prepared to do what she had to ensure that no more blood was spilled as a result of this monster even though it had once been her close friend and team mate.

"Carnage! Stop this rampage right now! Don't force me to use this!"

Carnage was silent for a second as if he was considering her threat. His left hand was slowly recovering from her first flaming arrow but the ease that it had gone through his living skin was something he could not ignore. He was still confident that he could tear through these Sailors like tissue paper and fertilize the wild flowers with their mangled bodies but he had to be smart about it. Sailor Mars was the only warrior among them that possessed the right kind of power to seriously harm or even kill his symbiote. If he continued to fight them she would more than likely get at least another successfully hit on his body before he could take her out which could very likely and literally stop him dead in his tracks. His message had been delivered and there was no need to drag out the opening act in his symphony of death and destruction when there was so much more he wanted them to see. He relaxed his shoulders and straightened his body up before going into another bout of insane laughter.

"Ta Ta, see you in the funny papers!"

With that tasteless quip he broke out into a run as his enhanced symbiotic powers allowed him to clear the span of the field in less than fifteen seconds. When he had begun his escape run Sailor Uranus jumped back up to her feet and started to take off after him. Sailor Saturn the youngest of the Sailors rushed after her with the intention of helping her team mate since Sailor Neptune was out of commission. Sailor Mercury and Venus quickly intercepted them before they passed by them and held their arms out to their sides to let them know that they didn't want them to pass.

"Wait! We need to get back to the Palace!"

"Out of my way Mercury. We need to stop that monster before he harms anyone else!"

"We will Uranus but we need to get Neptune and Jupiter medical attention first and we have to make sure the King and Queen are safe. We don't know where he is heading and we have to make their safety as our top priority!"

Sailor Uranus gritted her teeth as she took in Sailor Mercury's statement. She knew that she and Venus were right but she hated the circumstances they now found themselves in. It was their sworn duty as Sailors to guard and protect Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endyimon from any and all harm. If Carnage managed to invade the Crystal Palace and successfully kill them while they blindly tried to track him the utopian prophecy that had been promised would not come to pass and the Earth would fall back into the darkness and despair that had previously consumed it.

"Fine… let's get moving then! The sooner we re-group at the Palace the sooner we can track Carnage down!"

She turned around and hurried over to where Sailor Neptune was lying on the ground and carefully picked up her girlfriend cradling her body close to her. Sailor Mars and Venus likewise helped Jupiter back to her feet after she had fallen over during the short fight and draped her arms over their shoulders since she still couldn't put her full body weight on her injured right leg. Sailor Mercury activated her VR visor and pulled her micro-computer out so that she could scan the area with a program that would run continuous sweeps of their surrounding area. She was trying to watch for any other enemies so they wouldn't be caught by surprise or Carnage if he doubled back with the intention of finishing them off.

They began to head back to the Crystal Palace when they heard a sound come from somewhere behind them. They all spun around just in time to see a small rock finish its downward roll off of the grassy mound. Their eyes traced the stone's path up the hill and found themselves looking at a young man.

He was dressed head to toe in black clothing. His black hood had been completely knocked back which exposed his completely shaven head. He had a tattoo of an upside down black crescent moon in the centre of his forehead just above the space between his eyes. He was clearly injured as he was down on his hands and knees and appeared to not have the physical strength to stand up on his feet. He felt their collective stares and glared down at them with a facial expression seemed to suggest that he was both angry and more than a little disappointed that they were all still alive.

"That's him! … That's the guy that attacked us and corrupted Carnage!"

Sailor Venus didn't waste any time. She let go of Sailor Jupiter and raised her arm above her head as she closed her eyes. She extended her index and small finger while keeping the rest clenched into a fist. She focused her mind on gathering the necessary power from her surrounding environment. After a few seconds she created a chain of golden energy which swirled all around her body. When the heart-shaped links of the chain were fully formed she directed it at the young man by throwing her raised arm down in his direction.

"Venus Love-Me Chain!"

The chain flew through the air and wrapped tightly around the man binding his arms and legs together in much the same fashion as Carnage had done with Sailor Jupiter earlier. She pulled their enemy roughly down the hill until he came to a stop at her feet. She reached down and picked him up using her enhanced Sailor strength to lift the deadweight of his body. As the young man struggled against the energy chain that securely held him Sailor Venus reached her right arm back and punched him where she thought his jaw would be underneath the oversized black hood that fallen back over his head as she had pulled him down the grassy hill. As she picked up their now unconscious prisoner Sailor Saturn proceeded to take her place in helping Sailor Mars with Jupiter. Despite her smaller body size she used her Silence Glaive staff to give Jupiter a walking stick as a support.

With their captive securely in toll they resumed their trek back to the Crystal Palace where they hopefully would get some answers and stop the insanity that seemed to be consuming the beginning of this once sunny day.

End of Chapter 5…


	7. The Madness Revealed

Chapter 6

"How is she?"

Sailor Mercury looked up at the tired and concerned face of her friend Sailor Mars. She had just finished wrapping a bandage around Sailor Jupiter's leg wound and was now in the process of cleaning up the leftover waste materials and soiled rags. Sailor Jupiter was sitting on the stairs that led up to the first platform in the Crystal Palace's throne room. The grand hall was dead silent as no one was talking or for that matter knew what to say if they even felt compelled to.

The journey back to the palace had taken longer than it normally should have for them. The transportation of the injured Sailor Jupiter and Neptune plus their captured prisoner had slowed them down considerably. It had taken them nearly three hours to get back to the Crystal Palace and another hour to treat, clean and dress the various injuries they had all suffered from the brief encounter with Carnage. Sailor Mercury had opted to not call her standby medical team as she felt that none of them were ready to deal with the extra people and the inevitable questions they would ask as to what happened.

Close to the wall of the western side of room, their prisoner lay on the cold stone ground. His wrists were chained to a pair of shackles that were securely bolted to the white tiled floor. He had still not regained consciousness since Sailor Venus' apprehension of him back in the grassy field. When she had knocked him out, the thick black clouds that he had created in the sky had quickly disappeared as if they were mentally linked to him. On either side of him stood a royal guard whose sole duties were to ensure that no one got too close to him and to prevent any attempt he might make to escape when he eventually woke up.

"She'll be fine. The wound in her leg wasn't as deep as I first thought. It will leave a visible scar but it shouldn't have any permanent damage to the muscles."

"That is a small blessing to be thankful for with all things considered. What about Neptune?"

"She was extremely lucky! An inch or two deeper and she would have had a lacerated lung which would have been much more serious. She will need to refrain from moving and rest for a while until her strength returns and the wound begins to heal."

Both of them looked over to the far side of the landing platform where Sailor Neptune was lying on her back with several strands of white medical wrap encircling her upper torso. Sailor Uranus was kneeling beside her with a look of intense concern on her face as she stroked her lover's aqua marine hair. She had a bandage around her left arm and a square patch over the front of her right shoulder. The wound to her shoulder was not as serious as Sailor Jupiter's which another small silver lining to their overall situation. Sailor Neptune was currently fast asleep as Sailor Mercury had given her a mild pain-killer to help her relax due to the intense pain she was experiencing every time she took a breath.

Sailor Mercury turned back to look at Sailor Mars. Her blue eyes were moist as she tried to hold back the tears that threatened to appear from them. She had to remain strong for the sake of her friends. She could sense that everyone was just barely holding it together after everything that had happened so far. She looked over at Sailor Venus who was standing by their captured prisoner and waiting for him to regain consciousness so she could begin the interrogation of him. Behind her and Jupiter Sailor Saturn was sitting with Sailor Uranus and Neptune but kept a small space between her and them. It was her way of showing respect to the deep romantic relationship between the two.

Sailor Mercury turned her head to look back at Jupiter again who was rubbing her injured shoulder as it hung in the sling she had placed the affected arm in. The damage inflicted to the shoulder by Carnage's dart attack had been deeper than she had first assumed. The force of its forward momentum had almost carried it completely through Jupiter's body when it struck her. The organic bolt had dried up and crumpled into a fine red dust about two minutes after the attack which had left a medium sized hole in the front of her friend's shoulder. Luckily the dart had missed the brachial artery or else Sailor Jupiter might have bled out in a matter of minutes.

Sailor Mercury had come to the conclusion that any piece of Carnage's symbiote that was used in a projectile attack must quickly lose its molecular stability after being separated from the main body. That would explain the darts crumbling into dust shortly after becoming embedded in Sailor Jupiter's body. However that information was of little comfort when she remembered how the various wounds inflicted by his living costume's weapons had looked upon closer inspection and the intense agony those injuries were causing her friends who had been on the receiving end of them.

She took some solace in the fact that their accelerated healing abilities as Sailor warriors would mean that Jupiter would be able to use her arm again by more than likely this time tomorrow and Neptune would recover as well. However she had no idea if there would be any lasting nerve damage that could or would not be corrected by her recuperation ability in either of their cases.

As she watched Sailor Jupiter try to maintain her tough composure she could see that inside, she was perhaps taking it the worst all of them. It was understandable given the circumstances. A new enemy had appeared and turned her husband into a homicidal maniac who had very nearly killed her and a couple of their best friends. She knew, though, that there was another layer to her friend's current level of despair. Her eyes moistened again as she thought about what she would do if she ever found herself in her friend's position.

Suddenly the large doors of the throne room burst open and immediately drew the attention of almost everyone in the room. A small group of uniformed soldiers emerged from the rapidly expanding wood panels and rushed towards the centre of the room. The royal guards that were usually assigned to guard the interior side of the entrance had been moved so that they could stand on either side of the prisoner. This had allowed the soldiers to enter the room almost unopposed as the pair of guards on the outside of the room had seen them enough times to know that they were not threats to the King and Queen. Everyone immediately recognized them as the platoon of men assigned to Carnage's unit. They all knew why they were here but none of them wanted to volunteer to be the one to ask their questions.

"Is it true? Did Carnage really snap and try to kill you all?"

Sailor Jupiter lowered her head in response as she was unable to look at the people that she considered her friends. She and Carnage had spent many evenings with them. They were usually celebrations of the team's latest victory in the promotion of peace across the world but they had been a few other occasions where they had all gotten together just for the heck of it. She considered them close friends and had many fond memories of them and the times they had shared together.

Sailors Venus and Mercury mirrored Jupiter's reaction. They both felt it was not their place to tell them either. Sailor Uranus and Saturn showed no indication that they were going to say anything either as they returned their attention back to tending to Sailor Neptune who remained asleep as the pain-killers that Sailor Mercury had given her earlier kept her softly sleeping. Sailor Mars steadied her shoulders as she prepared herself to take on the role of being the bearer of bad news since it looked like no one else was going to.

"He was caught in an attack that magically did something to him. We aren't completely sure he did those things by his own choice."

"You say he was attacked Sailor Mars? By whom?"

"That man over there."

Sailor Mars turned her head and body towards the chained man who was still lying unconscious on the ground. The soldiers turned to look down at the young man completely dressed in black clothing. Their facial expressions couldn't hide the surprise they all shared as they gazed upon the seemingly unmarketable average-looking person that appeared to be only a few years younger than themselves.

"He's the guy responsible for causing Commander Carnage to snap?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"But how? How did he do it?"

"We aren't sure. He clearly has some degree of magical ability but to what extent we don't know yet. We also don't know why he specifically attacked Carnage or for what overall purpose."

"How do you know Carnage was his target?"

"The man told Sailor Jupiter that he was paying Carnage back for the interference and grief he had caused him in the past."

Corporal Hicks broke his stare towards the captured mystic and turned his attention up towards the king and queen. They were sitting upon their thrones at the top of the second platform and were quietly watching the events occurring before them. He took several steps toward the royal couple to ensure that he had their full attention. They both had remained silent during the whole exchange thus far as they shared the same mentality that the Sailors had in not knowing what to say in their current situation. The grim expressions they both were wearing spoke volumes though as they were beyond troubled at the ramifications that could occur if Carnage was allowed to remain under the effects of their current prisoner's spell.

"Your majesties, we would like your permission to track down and bring Carnage in. We have worked with him for a long time and we are confident we can find and stop him before he hurts anyone else."

"No."

Everyone spun their heads around to look over at Sailor Venus. She was still looking down at the prisoner but she turned her head slightly so that she could peer over her shoulder at them when she felt everyone's eyes on her. She turned around on her heel and faced everyone. Her hands were firmly on her hips and an ultra-serious look was etched on her face. She stared directly at the soldiers to let them know that she was speaking solely to them.

"You wouldn't stand a chance against him. In his present state he would kill you without any second thought or hesitation!"

"We have been in intense combat before Sailor Venus. We have faced and defeated enemies that would easily fit the classic definitions of insane or evil. We are all confident in our abilities and that we can succeed in this mission."

"You're not listening Corporal! Look at what he did to his own wife!"

Sailor Venus turned her head and drew their attention to where Sailor Jupiter was. She was still sitting on the edge of the 1st platform and her long legs were hanging over the edge with the heels of her white boots tapping lightly against the side of the platform. When Hicks and the others had first entered the throne room they had briefly noticed her as they took note of everyone presently in the room. However they had been too distracted by the shocking news of Carnage's disturbing behavioural change that they hadn't really seen everything in great detail. Now that Sailor Venus had drawn their attention to Sailor Jupiter they finally saw the full extent of her injuries for the first time. In some of the soldiers' faces the colour visibly drained away as the distressing sight registered internally with them. It was very difficult even for the most disciplined of the group of military men to maintain their stoic and rigid composure when they saw someone that they had shared many pleasant moments with in such a physical state.

"Do you think he would show any restraint against you?" Sailor Venus said as she finished her statement.

Neo-Queen Serenity felt the tension inside the room rapidly reaching its boiling point. It would only be a few more seconds before tempers would begin to flare or the collective despair felt by everyone would cause them to become distracted and cost them precious time. She needed to quickly get everyone back on track and refocused on what was important so they could end this crisis as soon as possible.

"Ok everyone, enough! We need to figure out a way to capture and hold Carnage long enough for the Silver Moon Crystal to break the spell and allow him to regain his gentle heart!"

"You fools! You know nothing,"

The weak but sinister sounding voice cut Neo-Queen Serenity's comment short and caught everyone completely by surprise. Everyone turned to look at the prisoner who was slowly lifting himself up to a kneeling position. His clean shaven head seemed to magnify the intense look that was radiating out from his dark brown eyes. The upside down crescent moon tattoo on his forehead sent a cold chill down each member of the Inner Sailors, Neo Queen Serenity and King Endyimon as it brought back the memories of their epic war against the Black Moon clan.

The Black Moon clan were a race of people from the 31st century that had travelled back in time to 21st century Tokyo with the goal of disrupting historical events. This would allow them to rule the planet Earth in the 31st century after they had failed to do so in their own time period. It was later discovered that they were actually descendants of humans that had left Earth when they had refused to be purified by Neo-Queen Serenity and the Silver Moon Crystal. Several members of the Black Moon clan had chased Chibiusa, the future daughter of Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endyimon, when she had travelled back to 21st century Tokyo with the queen's Silver Moon Crystal to enlist the help of Sailor Moon and the other soldiers to defeat the Black Moon clan.

The Black Moon's leader Prince Demande used the Black Crystal which was found on the tenth planet of the Solar System as his main power source to fuel his campaign against the original city of Tokyo in the past and Crystal Tokyo in the future. In the end the Inner Sailors were able to heal the Four Spectre Sisters and turn them back into normal human beings while Prince Demande, his brother Saphir his two lieutenants: Rubeus and Esmeraude and their chief advisor Wiseman were all killed in the various battles throughout the ensuing war. The sight of seeing that ominous symbol again worried the Sailors that this was the start of that future enemy's birth and what they could and should do to prevent the hardships that they knew would be coming if they allowed the Black Moon clan to form.

The young man sneered up at them with a clear notion of amusement. He was letting everyone know that he was enjoying their current predicament and his role in bringing it into existence. It was at that point that Sailor Venus and Mars both stormed toward him together with the intent of getting some answers from this poor excuse for a human being.

"Tell us who you are!"

"You may call me Aldrich Reid not that it will help you in the slightest!"

"Why have you come to Crystal Tokyo?"

"Why? You dare ask me why,"

He became visibly agitated by Sailor Venus' question as his face contorted into an ugly visage of malice and anger. He lunged forward at them like he was going to attack. The chains fastened to his wrists held firm and abruptly halted his movement with a loud metallic sound. Neither Sailor Venus nor Mars flinched or showed any sign that they were intimidated by his dramatic attempt to scare them. They both stood firm and locked their eyes with his to emphasize that very point. He tried to swing his right arm forward in a possible attempt to throw a punch or in a desperate effort to snap one of the chain links that held him but only succeeded in making another loud metallic noise. Sailor Venus' eyes caught something as she watched his moving arm just in case his desperate action proved successful. She reached out and grabbed his right wrist and pulled back the black jacket sleeve. On the inside part of his wrist was another tattoo a series of lines with a half circle that was partially coloured in.

"That's the symbol I saw earlier! The one that was drawn on the side of the shopkeeper's building earlier today!"

"It is?"

"I am sure of it."

Sailor Venus looked back at the young man that was leering up at her as she tightly held onto his wrist. She locked her blue eyes with his dark brown ones and addressed him in a serious and authoritative tone.

"What does this symbol mean?"

"It's my personal symbol, my mark and my signature. It tells people that the area they are in belongs to me!"

Sailor Uranus got up from her position beside Neptune and quickly moved to stand beside Sailor Venus. She looked down at the tattoo on the man now known as Aldrich's wrist that was still firmly in Venus' grasp. Her eyes immediately widened as she recognized the symbol and a wave of memories flashed across the back of her eyes. She turned to look back at Sailor Saturn over her shoulder. Her young team mate met her gaze and they silently shared a quick conversation between them.

Sailors Uranus and Neptune had told her about their various global missions and what they had seen during their travels. Sailor Saturn had not gone with them on any of their operations as she had made a personal vow to stay with the King and Queen at all times and act as their personal bodyguard. She silently told her older partner that she agreed with her in that it was time to tell the others everything she knew as it pertained to the mysterious symbol.

"I have seen that image before several times in several of the weapons plants and on dozens of shipments that we destroyed or intercepted. Neptune and I thought at first that they were just a gang sign but then we started seeing them in other places across the world. We didn't think anything of it since we were still being successful in completing our missions. We did inquire about it once or twice but not one of the criminals we apprehended was willingly to tell us what the symbol meant."

"That is because they were afraid of me and did not want to feel my wrath if they unwisely chose to betray me."

Aldrich smiled malevolently as he let that statement hang in the air. He was enjoying the sight of Sailors as they pathetically tried to figure him out. It was simply delicious to see them blindly attempting to understand the full scope of what was really going on. He silently mulled over whether or not he should reveal just how far in the dark they really were as to what had been actually going on out in the world that they were pitifully trying to save. Ultimately he decided he just couldn't resist twisting the proverbial knife a few more times.

"My dear Sailors, you have been a thorn in my side for many years now. Ever since this world was awakened from its frozen sleep it has been my ultimate desire to become the most powerful man on the planet. To that end I began to recruit people with the skills and talents that would be beneficial to me in reaching that very goal. I began to build my power and influence by setting up various operations to increase and expand my resources and territory. I located several hidden caches of weapons that had survived the nine centuries of Earth's hibernation to use to enforce my authority.

Your small victories in weeding out the other criminals and other bad people that might one day pose a challenge to me have only made my goal all the more obtainable. The best thing of it all was none of you Sailors even knew that I existed or for that matter suspected that there was any connection to these seemingly different criminal operations and enterprises and probably never would have until it was too late again!"

Aldrich paused for a few seconds to let his last statement register with his capturers. He maintained his emotionless facial expression but inside he was relishing the anguish he could see in their eyes as they each relived the guilt they felt for failing to save the planet from the nuclear holocaust. When he felt their sorrow had reached its point he resumed speaking.

"However you and your bleeding heart rulers' repeated interferences have delayed my attempts to achieve what I so rightfully deserve for so long now that I was finally forced to take more direct action against all of you."

"So, you came to Crystal Tokyo to get rid of the only obstacles to your evil ambitions?"

"That is correct my blue haired trollop!"

He looked directly at Sailor Mercury as he verbally insulted her. She responded back by staring at him with a cold and intense look that was uncharacteristic of her and her usual sweet personality. She didn't like being angry and would almost always choose the path that avoided such tense situations or confrontations whenever she could but there were times where that choice was made for her and this appeared to be one those times. She straightened her back and tensed her spine into a stiff plank. She was attempting to mirror the appearance of her team mates Venus and Mars, to let him know that she wasn't letting him get under her skin. He cruelly smiled at her and his expression told everyone that he was amused at Sailor Mercury's efforts to act tough when it was clear that it was simply not in her nature. He finally broke his stare at her and panned his head around the small crowd of people in front of him. When he was done he continued.

"I knew that a direct assault against you and the Crown would accomplish nothing as your combined strengths and powers would be too much for me. Luckily you provided me with an even greater option, the alien-human hero, Carnage!"

"How do you know about Carnage?"

"Ah, that is my greatest achievement and the one I am most proud of! I was in London, England in the final days before the Earth was frozen. Back before the 'Great Sleep' I was a below average and under-achieving petty criminal. I never amounted to very much in the world of crime but I had dreams and ambitions of one day running my own criminal empire. For many years I struggled to see that grand dream come to fruition as I worked for people that I considered to be my inferiors. However fate finally smiled down upon me one day when a building known for its expensive treasures and riches exploded a few blocks away from where I was currently living. I recognized the golden opportunity that this event presented and I slipped passed the police guards once night had fallen. I hoped to find something that I could fence for a large sum of money or trade for a better position in an existing criminal cartel. As I rummaged through the debris I came across a book bound in black leather. I almost tossed it away thinking it would be worth nothing,"

The Inner Sailors felt a cold shiver ripple down their spines as they listened to his brief description of the book that he had discovered. Each of them began to secretly pray and plea to whatever higher power they chose that it was a completely different book that Aldrich had just been referring too.

"But something inside me convinced me that this book was not what it appeared to be. Although I did not fully understand what I was feeling I had learned many years ago to trust my instincts. I held onto the book and continued my search. When I later returned back to my hideout the book seemed to continuously call out to me until I could not resist its thrall any longer. I opened it and began to read the pages that were written in English."

The cold shiver inside the Inner Sailors became almost total body numbness. Every fibre of their being began to scream out that what they feared was what had actually happened. The book that Aldrich had found was indeed the same one that James Saki had used to inadvertently bring the demon prince Gaap to Earth who then nearly succeeded in conquering and destroying the human race. After Gaap's defeat the book had been taken by the man they had only known as Alistair when he had come to collect Carnage for what was supposed to be and ultimately was his final mission for the Illuminati Council. The Inner Sailors were told that the book was going to be permanently placed in the Council's vault to keep it from ever being used again by unsuspecting individuals. Sailor Mars and the others had forgotten all about it since that day but had all shared the same hope that the book had been destroyed when they later learned that Apachite and the newly resurrected Dark Kingdom had blown up the Illuminati Council's building.

"As I read the words I felt a series of strange energy waves enter inside me. Before I knew it there were echoic voices inside my head and they were all talking to me at once. The collective of voices told me that I had just been blessed with the aspects of the greatest and most powerful demon lords in all of hell. The invisibility of Morail, the confidence of Sonneillon, the teleportation of Aglasis and the ability to see the past, present and future from an old friend of yours I believe the demon prince, Gaap."

The actual mention of their previous enemy was something that none of the Inner Sailors had been prepared for. Each of their individual minds raced at the possible ramifications that Aldrich possessing anything that had to do with Gaap could mean to them and Crystal Tokyo as a whole. After their battle with the demon prince Sailor Mercury had theorized that James must have read a passage that was solely devoted to Gaap and that it was what had led to his emergence into their world. As she listened to Aldrich's story she mentally hypothesized that if Aldrich had only read passages that incorporated multiple demons and as a result of that he had been given their various powers, there could still be a risk of one or more of the demons completely taking over his body and attempt to enter their world just as Gaap had. That terrifying possibility made this young man even more dangerous than they had first thought and perhaps an even greater threat than the one currently posed by Carnage.

"That still doesn't explain what you did to Carnage to turn him evil."

Aldrich began to laugh hysterically. His laughter was laced with disrespect and contempt as the tones of his voice echoed off the stone walls of the throne room. The Sailors all reacted differently to the unexpected reaction to Sailor Mars' question. Some of them rolled their shoulders as a way to ease the uncomfortable nervousness they were feeling while the others balled their hands into fists and struggled to resist the urge to punch this arrogant man in the mouth to shut him up. Thankfully and mercifully his bout of laughter did not last long and he eventually began to regain control of himself. When he ceased his maniacal howl he lowered his head to face them once again. His dark brown eyes flashed with the glee of a child who had just successfully proven to be better than his parents at something.

"You still don't get it, do you? I didn't make Carnage evil. I simply undid what was done to him."

"What are you talking about?"

"The symbiote organism that makes Carnage what he is was evil to begin with, you silly little girls! It belonged to an alien race that travelled from planet to planet like locusts and consumed and attached to every living thing until their hosts' energy was all used up and the planet they invaded was completely devoid of all organic life. Once that point was reached they would then leave and find another planet to infect. Eventually they found their way into the Silver Millennium's territory."

"Hold on, if these things did attack the Moon Kingdom or any of our past home planets how come we don't have memories of that or remember any sort of record of it in the Moon Kingdom's historical archives!"

"Because you pathetic love-starved Sailor Venus, the event I am referring to occurred several years before any of you was even born including Sailor Pluto who I have come to understand is currently guarding the Door of Time as per her sacred duty."

The Sailors were silent as they took in that bit of information and applied it to what was currently going on. This man Aldrich knew so much about them and they knew next to nothing about him. It unnerved them that they were in this position again with the enemy already so far into their plan and they now had to play catch-up in order to have any chance of stopping it. The last time this had happened Apachite had been able to bring out the near end of the world. They had been extremely lucky that he hadn't fully succeeded and that they had been able to save everyone. However they had each made a solemn promise to themselves that they would never let something like that ever happen again.

"Queen Serenity your ruler's biological mother managed to use the Silver Crystal to destroy all but one of the invading symbiotes. In that very moment she was faced with a choice to either destroy the last remaining symbiote and stop the plague of their existence from the entire universe or have a powerful being in her service to ensure the safety of her Kingdom from any future threats. She foolishly chose the second one and used the Silver Crystal to 'curse' the symbiote with the energy of pure love and justice. This gave the alien what we humans often refer to as a soul. However just like your original Kingdom, nothing is meant to last forever. The Queen was supposed to periodically re-strengthen the curse or risk the symbiote reverting back to its original malevolent nature. Luckily for me she never got the chance and after almost 11,000 years the curse was finally on the verge of breaking all on its own!"

The Sailors were now in a state of complete shock as they continued to listen intently to Aldrich's words. They couldn't believe that everything they have come to know about their former friend may have been nothing more than a forced illusion. High above them on her throne Neo-Queen Serenity was struggling to cope with the sudden mention and past memories of her real mother. She hadn't seen Queen Serenity since she had given her the Moon Scepter near the beginning of their struggle against the Doom Tree many years ago. She knew just as the rest of the Sailors did that Queen Serenity had been forced to face a similar dilemma almost two decades later when she sent them all to the future following the destruction of the Silver Millennium at the hands of the Dark Kingdom.

"That still doesn't explain why Carnage is acting insane. Why isn't he fighting against the symbiote's control? My husband would never act like such an immature child!"

Aldrich and the rest of the Sailors turned around and put their eyes on Sailor Jupiter. She was still sitting on the side of the platform but the raised level of the structure was allowing her to see over the small group of people standing in front of Aldrich. He looked up at her and smiled as he sensed that her anguish was the most intoxicating of them all.

"Isn't it obvious? The symbiote and your husband have been permanently bonded for almost two decades now. The alien has merged with every muscle fibre, drop of blood and skin cell in his body. The symbiote controls everything about it now. When I broke the curse and the symbiote took complete dominance over him the sudden loss of his own body caused your husband to suffer a psychotic break. It's a pity that the human mind is such a fragile thing!"

King Endyimon was sitting next to his wife and holding her hand in a tender embrace as he listened to everything that was going on. Underneath his white mask his eyes flicked back and forth as he thought about everything that had been said and what he had heard about the first encounter with both Aldrich and the newly 'un-cursed' Carnage. He lifted his head as he came to realize something that deeply troubled him. He focused his eyes directly down at Aldrich. From his elevated position on his throne he was able to see him over the crowd of young women with hardly any obstructions.

"If you are really in possession of demonic abilities and are thus more powerful than you originally were why did you allow us to capture you so easily?"

The Sailors' faces lit up as they all registered the meaning of King Endyimon's question. It had not yet occurred to them that it had been far too easy to capture Aldrich. Each of their minds began to race with possible reasons for why he had let them capture him. Was it part of his overall plan? Perhaps he wanted access to the interior of the Crystal Palace to launch some sort of secondary attack like the Trojan Horse story of Greek mythology.

Aldrich tilted his head up to look at the king as a look of distain appeared on his face. His reaction didn't have the same bravado he had been displaying to the group up until now. Sailor Saturn saw this and was the first to mentally put the puzzle pieces together. She broke the silence in the room to allow the others to follow her theory.

"You are still human and using those demonic powers take a lot out of you physically every time you use them."

Aldrich did not respond to her comment and chose instead to look away. He lowered his gaze to the white tiled floor underneath him. His reaction only served to confirm that Saturn was indeed correct in her statement. However the unexpected notion that their mysterious new enemy was not as powerful as they were first led to believe was of little confront to them when weighted against the bigger issue currently going on.

It was difficult for everyone to come to grips with what Aldrich had told them. However they knew in each of their hearts that what he had said was indeed true and that it fully explained Carnage's recent behavioural changes. His explanation explained the recent fits of uncharacteristic anger, the brutal killing of Apachite and the seemingly uncontrollable bloodlust that they had all witnessed at one time or another from him when they had been in battle against previous enemies. The monster that they had encountered hours earlier was in fact the real Carnage and not simply their friend under a magic spell or the result of intense brain-washing.

"He was the perfect weapon to send against you. A warrior that none of you can kill or fight because of your personal attachment to him. He will bath this kingdom in the blood of the innocent and allow me to pick up the pieces and finally claim my destiny as the rightful ruler of this new era of humanity!"

"We will never let that happen! We will find a way to turn him back to the way he was before you showed up and prevent you from further corrupting this world!"

"Then I am going to enjoy watching you all die one by one as you try!"

Aldrich malevolently smiled at them one last time before sitting down on the floor and assumed a cross-legged position. He brought his arms together as there was enough slack in the chains to allow him to do so and lowered his head. Upon first appearance he looked like he was praying or even meditating but the Sailors knew that he was doing neither of those things. They each took it as a sign that he was not going to reveal any more information to them and was effectively shutting himself down. Even still the information that he had provided was certainly more than they previously had a half hour ago. They now knew who this young sorcerer was and his reason for coming to the kingdom. They also were now aware that he had been at work for years and was the brains behind dozens of unlawful operations around the world with the sole purpose of creating chaos and disorder so he could rule the world like an iron-fisted dictator. However three things still worried the Sailors more than anything else.

The first was that Aldrich possessed an untold number of demonic powers which now made him the most dangerous human in the world. The second was the possibility that any one of those demonic influences could eventually try to use Aldrich to bring itself into their world which was another reason why they would have to eventually find a way to strip him of his powers to ensure the long term safety of Crystal Tokyo. However the third and most troubling of all was the revelation that the Carnage they had known for so many years was not the real one but merely an illusion created by Queen Serenity eons ago. If they did indeed find some way to 'curse' him again and turn him back onto the side of the angels would they be able to go back to the way things had been now that they knew what he really was?

"Hey, where did Hicks and the others go?"

The rest of the Sailors quickly spun around upon hearing Sailor Saturn's question and looked in all directions. Sure enough the group of military soldiers were indeed nowhere to be seen. The rush of concern overwhelmed each of them as they quickly came to realize where they had gone and what they were planning to do.

"Dammit Hicks! We told you not to go after him!"

"We have to bring them back before they find Carnage!"

"Let's get moving then!"

They all turned and began to rush out of the throne room when a pair of royal guards ran in. Their faces were stricken with panic as they nearly crashed into the stampede of exiting Sailor warriors. They managed to avoid a head-on collision which would have hurt the guards more than the Sailors. The arriving soldiers began to feverishly talk and ramble before any of the Sailors could react or inquiry about the reasons for their current state of alarm.

"My King and Queen, there are reports of some sort of monster attacking civilians in the northern Durham district. We have dispatched a squadron to the area but we need the Sailor guardians as well!"

The Sailors all exchanged looks among themselves. They all knew where they had to go now and what they had to do. As they rushed passed the guards they all shared a single collective thought that at least now they knew where Hicks and the soldiers would be going.

End of Chapter Six


	8. Crossing the Line

Chapter 7

The sounds of anarchy, civil unrest and terror had become distant memories for the people of Crystal Tokyo. The audio track that had once been the usual for people living in the big American cities had been replaced by chirping birds and rustling leaves. The peace and prosperity that the benevolent King Endyimon and Neo-Queen Serenity had provided made those throwbacks to humanity's former existence before the 'Great Sleep' almost completely vanish from the minds of the general population.

People were now not afraid to leave their homes at night and were willing to trust each other on just their word again. Individuals helped each other without any hesitation or question whether they were friends or not with the other person. They did it so not for the expectation of personal compensation but because it was simply the right thing to do. Day after day the general atmosphere of the kingdom had become similar to that of a sleepy rural or small town. No dramatic scenes such as police or fire trucks racing through the streets with their sirens blaring, no gunshots breaking through the quiet air that hung over the city and no alarms or bells that were the signals of crimes in progress. It was the vision of the perfect safe haven for many people and was the real-life embodiment of Sir Thomas Moore's 'Utopia'. Everyone knew everybody and they all rolled up their sleeves and pitched in to make each other's lives that much easier.

The pleasant and peaceful co-existence among the residents of Crystal Tokyo was enough to make Carnage want to kneel over and throw up. He couldn't stand all this "Mayberry" kindness and southern hospitality. He took great comfort in that on this particular day those call backs to how the world used to be would once again be loud and clear.

He walked along the street in the northern section of Crystal Tokyo known as the Durham district. As he walked through the crowds of pedestrians which filled the street the civilians he passed each nodded their heads with a smile and some even wished him a 'good afternoon'. He had to force out a response each time that didn't sound like he was fighting the urge to impale the person on one of his symbiote's organic spikes. He needed to do something about this quiet atmosphere fast or he just might throw himself off the nearest cliff.

He stopped walking and turned his head to the left as he looked at a small variety store that he had often shopped at when he was still a pawn of the Sailors and the royal couple. He evilly smiled as he decided that this would the most appropriate spot to burst the bubble that these people were currently living in.

Less than seven minutes later people were running in all directions as they were trying desperately to escape the unexpected horror that threatened their very lives. Screams and howls of absolute fear and intense pain filled the air along with the faint wet sounds of things being broken apart and tossed around from inside the store. As the people inside fled the shop and rushed through the streets the sight of them running and some of them even being covered in blood had caused other people who were still unaware of the reason for the stampede to panic as well. This caused the unrest and chaos to spread like wildfire throughout the district.

Carnage was enjoying the bedlam that he had created as he emerged from the store and proceeded to casually stroll down the street. It had been quite amusing to him when he saw the reaction of the shopkeeper when he had initially entered the store. The young man had smiled at him as he immediately recognized one of Crystal Tokyo's main protectors and warmly welcomed him to his humble establishment. Carnage had played along with the ruse by wishing the shopkeeper a pleasant afternoon as well and even engaged in some small talk as he approached the cashier's counter. He turned his body to the side as he leaned against the counter in a casual manner and turned his head around as they talked so that he could scan the other people in the store with them.

Carnage smiled as he fondly remembered the look on the shopkeeper's face when he pushed away from the counter and approached the nearest male patron from behind grabbed and lifted the man up with one arm before gripping his head with the other. There was a brief pause before he yanked hard with the hand holding onto the head. That look of complete shock and disbelief at what the young store owner had just witnessed had been absolutely priceless. Blood had spurted everywhere from the arterial spray that erupted from the stump that had once been the young man's neck as his heart continued to beat. The resulting screams as the other patrons reacted to the horrible act would have been music to his ears if he had any. The sight of the frozen blood stained expression of surprise on the face on the patron's head as his headless body fell against the grocery shelf in front of it had sent a warm and fuzzy sensation throughout his body.

He had then proceeded to grab and ensnare anyone that was still within the small store with his symbiotic tendrils and take his time with them. He twisted one woman's head completely around as he mirrored a memorable scene from a horror movie he had seen growing up. He had practiced his accuracy on moving targets by shooting people with symbiotic spears, darts and arrows as they tried to desperately reach the front or back exits. However he was the most proud of the way he had taken out the last person in the store before he had left.

He had been just about to leave when he heard the unmistakable sounds of a person sobbing. He had gleefully followed the soft murmurs until he found the young store owner cowering behind the counter. He reached down and grabbed the man with his left arm and lifted him up off the ground with ease as the symbiote's natural strength made the man's body feel like a sheet of paper. As the man cried out in absolute fear a part of Carnage's skin on his chest formed into a saw blade and in a blur of red-ish movement, cut off the man's nose as easily as a knife going through a stick of butter. The severed appendage fell to the ground beside Carnage's right foot as blood spurted from the man's face in time with his rapidly pounding heart. He had then dropped the man and confidently strutted out into the street as the man's screams followed him outside as he continued to bleed out.

The sight that had welcomed him when he stepped back outside was something that he had not been expecting. The people, who had not run off yet or were still unsure of what exactly was going on, were standing in their doorways or just outside of their houses. Each of them was wearing expressions that varied from confusion to looks of fear or concern on their faces. Some of them that were close enough to him took notice of the bloody footprints he had left as he had exited the store. This caused them to immediately start to visibly shake and nervously swallow. If they had been even closer they might have also been able to see the fresh and still wet blood against his moving red symbiotic skin from the nose man or the several other victims left inside the store.

He abruptly stopped and stood in the centre of the street directly outside the shop. He scanned the area in front of him from the left to the right and took note of each of the numerous onlookers that were staring back at him. A couple of mothers were tightly holding their young children close to them as they instinctively tried to protect them from the unholy monster that had invaded their quiet and up until now safe neighbourhood.

To his left a small group of blue-collar looking young men were slowly advancing towards him. Several of them were holding various objects such as a thick handled broomstick meat cleavers or metal wrenches of various sizes. He grinned with amusement as he watched them approach him in a pathetic attempt to intimidate him but failing miserably to hide their clear nervousness and trepidation.

"Oh goody, I was afraid this was going to get boring!"

He fully turned his body to face the make-shift mod with a playful-looking hop. The visual sight of his rippling-muscled body frame underneath the constantly swirling red alien skin caused some of his would-be challengers to nervously swallow as the anxiety quickly built up inside them. Carnage's skin flowed with black patterns as they suddenly formed and then quickly disappeared from sight. Parts of the living costume seemed to drip off the edges of the body frame it was covering and fell down to the ground before merging back with the original mass. His fingers stretched out into long thin razor claws with nails that were curled into needlepoint tips. As a final gesture to show his lack of respect for the threat they posed to him he tilted his head repeatedly to the left and right like a boxer getting ready for the opening bell of a match.

It was at that point that four guys rushed forward. One of them wielded a sledgehammer while another was holding a large pipe wrench. The other two men were both thickly muscled and much larger than the average man. Their clothing attires suggested that they were either contractors or construction workers. They moved forward behind the two armed men with their fists raised. Their intent was to knock Carnage out with one punch. The two pairs of amateur heroes covered the short distance between them and the demonic monstrosity in less than five seconds.

"Bring it fellas, show me what you got!"

Carnage ducked under the wild swing from the wrench attacker before landing a solid upwards uppercut to the man's solar plexus. He put his full body weight into his counter-attack by using his legs to push up which increased the physical force of his blow. The impact lifted the man off of his feet and sent him sailing backwards which caused him to collide with the couple of muscled attackers. A sickening crack filled the air all around them as it let everyone know that more than one rib bone had just been broken in the man's chest.

Carnage briefly laughed out loud as he watched the collision and the men's struggle to get back to their feet afterwards. In his temporary lack of focus he missed the broomstick male and another one that had managed to move through the crowd without him noticing. They had both been able to get around him and were now approaching him together from behind. The unarmed man picked up a moderate sized block of stone that was lying on the curb of the street as he advanced towards Carnage. He raised it above his head and threw it as hard as he could at the back of the black and red head of the murderous abomination.

A tendril formed on the back of Carnage's head and caught the block like how a professional baseball player would catch an underhand throw from a child. He turned around to face his surprise attacker as saliva dripped from his razor teeth. The tendril held the block up so that it was still visible and not obstructed by his head. The curved angle of the organic strand made it look like a scorpion's tail.

"So you want to play catch, huh?"

The stone slab shot back at the man so fast that he didn't even have time to put up his hands to block it. The stone chunk struck the man square in the chest and sent him crashing backwards onto his back. The weight and force of the impact caused the brick to remain on top of the guy's body. There was another series of sickening cracks that could be heard over the screams and chaos that had quickly engulfed the area. They were the signals that the guy's ribcage had been broken multiple times just like his friend a few seconds earlier. The impact did not kill the man instantously but as he lay on the ground with the stone hunk on top of him blood began to spurt from his mouth which was the indication that the internal bleeding he had suffered was slowly and painfully killing him.

Not hesitating for a second Carnage spun his arms in a pair of backwards swipes that connected with the other attacker. As he swung his left arm he formed two long slightly curved razor sharp blades on the back of each hand. The sharp knives acted like a sword slicing clean through the broomstick the guy was wielded first before slashing across his mid-section with the right hand. The force of the second swipe halted the guy's advance and sent him hurdling in the direction of the swing's arch. He hit the side of a building and immediately collapsed to the ground as his intestines spilled out into his lap.

After seeing the quick and brutal ways that Carnage had dispatched their colleagues the remaining members of the mob were slowly backing away from him. The two remaining members of the initial four attackers had managed to pick themselves up after their collision with their friend. One of the muscled men was using a sledgehammer that one of the other mob members had dropped as he had run off in fright upon seeing the fate of the stone block man. He was using the long handled hammer like a cane which made Carnage immediately think that he must have twisted his ankle or knee when he had fallen to the ground following the impact with the human projectile. Their facial expressions displayed the intense fear and shock they were feeling as they looked back at the grotesque tableau behind them. Carnage slowly took a few steps towards them and the large group of spectators. In response the people all jumped or stepped back to maintain the distance between them and him.

Carnage relished the terror he saw in the people all around him and the beautiful chaos he was creating. The freedom he was feeling by acting without hesitation or feeling constrained by Neo-Queen Serenity's rules was simply exhilarating. However he knew that in probably a matter of minutes, the Sailors would be here with the sole intention of stopping his spree of murder and mayhem. He was not the least bit concerned about them but he was not stupid enough to think that they were just going to lie down and die either. He had been lucky in their first encounter because they had been still distracted by the surprise of his sudden behavioural change. Now that they had time to process that shocking development the next time they faced off, they would be coming at him with everything they had.

"Halt! Carnage! You are to stop all activities and come with us to see Neo-Queen Serenity immediately!"

Carnage' large white eyes disappeared briefly in his version of a blink since he did not have eyelids as a puzzled facial expression appeared on his virtually featureless face. One single thought quickly played through his brain and managed to cut through the insanity that was running rampant inside it. Who would be stupid enough to think that he would stop his fun by simply telling him to do so?

As he looked towards where the chorus of voices had come from a moderately sized group of armed men appeared from behind the remaining mass of rag-tag mob members. The pushed their way through the crowd and formed a tight line in front of the innocent civilians. Carnage had to smile a little bit as he admired their bravery.

'_I might actually have to take a deep breath in this time!' _

The new arrivals were dressed in gold plated steel armour and carried large round shields. They wore helmets that covered their heads all the way down pass their chins and were modelled after the ancient Spartan warriors of Greece. They wore steel grieves on their shins and wrists. They were each equipped with long spears and medium length swords that were mounted on the underside of their shields. Their armour much like their helmets had been based on the ancient warriors of Greece and mythological heroes such as Achilles and Hektor. Carnage instantly recognized them as being members of the royal guard which was Crystal Tokyo's only line of defence other than the Sailor Warriors.

'_Oh, those kinds of people!'_

Carnage let that that dissatisfied thought pass through his head as the brief amusement he had just had disappeared and was replaced with disappointment as he silently answered his earlier question. He was becoming more than a little frustrated as he was quickly becoming bored with these petty challengers. They died too quickly and the thrill he felt when slaughtered one of them was starting to fade away. These guards were no more of a threat to him then the construction workers. He wanted the Sailors to hurry up and arrive so that he could really flex his muscles. He decided to show a very rare act of mercy and give the guards a chance to retreat so he could go find someone else that was more fun to play with.

"I would turn around and run away my friends! People who think they are heroes don't last long around me."

"By order of Neo-Queen Serenity you must come with us now!"

Carnage scoffed at the man's order and sent out a barbed tendril straight at him with the intent of impaling it through his heart. The man swung the long staff of his spear at the incoming strand. His timing was perfect as it successfully batted the tendril off to the side and away from his body. Carnage felt a small pang of pain as the blunt rod of the spear made contact with his pseudopod. The tendril's momentum carried forward through the open space between the soldiers before being retracted back into the main body.

Carnage couldn't help but smile again as he watched the man and the rest of the soldiers immediately fell into a collective defensive position and readied themselves for the next attack. They were crouched down with their shields up and their spears resting on the top of them with the pointed ends facing Carnage. Sailor Venus and Mars had done well when they had trained these men. They might actually last more than fifteen seconds against him.

"That was good for a mere bag of meat! Let's see if how you handle this!"

Carnage's skin began to ripple and roll as it formed into a variety of different weapons and made him look like a one man army. He tensed his body and stood still for about ten seconds. He was letting the tension build up a bit. When he felt his anticipation reach its breaking point he sent everything that he had created at the guards and the crowd of people that were still cowering behind them with seemingly impossible speed.

The organic weapons quickly found their targets and killed many people instantly and severely wounded many others. The guards' round shield protected them from many of the incoming projectiles but not all of them. With their legs and the top of their shoulders partially exposed the darts were able to strike them which caused them to drop their shields enough to leave their necks or other vital areas open for a flying piece of symbiote from the second or third wave to deliver an instant kill. In seemingly no time at all the last of the guards fell to the cobblestone street with a piece of symbiotic material sprouting from his left eye.

"Hmmm, twelve seconds! I am a little disappointed! I guess the Sailors are the only ones that can give me a decent challenge around here."

As if the fates were watching the events that were unfolding Carnage suddenly felt a light tap on the back of his left leg. He turned around to see what exactly had struck him as his symbiote was already letting him that bit of information as his white eyes focused in on the spot. A large army-issued combat knife was embedded into the flesh of his leg just above the back of his knee. The symbiotic skin had prevented it from sinking deeper and hitting Sean's human leg underneath it but was still in deep enough that he could feel the tip of it against his hamstring muscles. Carnage snorted as the symbiote flicked the blade out and sent it to the ground with a metallic clang. He looked back up and in the direction that the knife had come from. His large eyes visibly shrunk as he saw a small group of military-clad men rushing forward.

"Oh good, Crystal Tokyo's National Guard has arrived! Just in time too as these minor leaguers are all used up now!"

Corporal Hicks and the rest of the infantry unit did not stop to engage him in any sort of verbal banter. They instead continued to move in and quickly tackle Carnage down to the ground with precision team work and skill. They immediately positioned their individual body weights firmly down on him and pinned his arms and legs to the ground. Staff Sergeant Dorrin was on top of Carnage's chest with his knees flat on the cobblestones of the street on either side of his ribcage. As the others struggled to keep Carnage's arms and legs securely under control Dorrin began to repeatedly punch Carnage's head as hard as he could. He alternated his fists back and forth and struck the sides of his head like the rapid pounding of pistons in a high-speed engine. After about a minute the physical fatigue began to set in with Dorrin. His punches became slower and had lost much of their impact force. His breathing got progressively harder and more laboured like a boxer after twelve rounds in the ring.

"Is that all you got? I thought I trained you better than that Dorrin!"

Carnage flexed the muscles in his hips and chest and brought his arms and legs in towards his body before throwing them abruptly outwards. The strength and force generated by his limbs sent the soldiers holding them flying out in all directions. The dispatching of his team mates happened so fast that Dorrin didn't have the time to process what had just occurred as he struggled to maintain his balance after the unexpected movement underneath him. As his teammates landed hard all around him Carnage turned his head to look up at the last of his attackers that was still on his chest.

An evil grin spread across his huge mouth as Dorrin used everything inside him to maintain his rigid military discipline. He raised his fist again to start another barrage of punches into Carnage's head when a hammer-like club formed in the middle of Carnage's chest. It propelled upwards and caught Dorrin square in the stomach before he could react or even see it coming up at him. The round-ended pseudopod launched him up into the air like a rocket and back against the trunk of a thick tree situated along the sidewalk nearby. He hit the tree in the centre of his back and the force of the impact immediately stunned him as he slumped to the ground.

Carnage stood back up and looked around at the men that he had once led into battle dozens of times. He laughed manically as the irony of them now trying to battle him their former commanding officer, became clear as day. He stopped his laughter and looked over at Dorrin who was still leaning up against the tree. The fluttering of his eyes told him that he was still dazed from being thrown against the tree and wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.

"It's more fun when they fight back!"

Major Winters was the first of group to recover from being thrown aside. He was sitting up on one knee as he watched Carnage survey the scene around him and laughing like a hyena at the chaos he was continuing to cause. His mind raced feverishly as he weighed their available options for taking this monster down. They had seen the mangled bodies of the three young men that had been brave enough to attempt to take down Carnage by themselves as they had approached his position. Seeing the brutal way he had dispatched them had informed the soldiers that Carnage was not pulling any punches in any of his offensive tactics.

A frontal assault would be suicide as Carnage could easily cut through them like tissue paper with any one of his many organic weapons. They couldn't risk tackling him to the ground again because he knew that Carnage had allowed them to take him down the first time. A second attempt would almost certainly result in heavy casualties as they closed in on him. The nature of his living suit allowed him to strike from any point of his body and hit multiple targets at the same time. Carnage could easily kill them all in one move if they got careless and too close to him. The only viable option he could come up with was to use the 'hit and run' strategy and hopefully either tire Carnage out or delay him long enough for the Sailors to arrive and give them the much needed extra firepower. He knew that the Sailors had to be close behind them and was more than a little surprised that they weren't here on the scene already.

Major Winters glanced around at the other members of his team and took note of each of their current positions. Dorrin was still semi-conscious from being thrown against the tree trunk and was showing no signs that he would be battle ready anytime soon. Corporeal Hicks, Captain Mac and Lieutenant Colonel Nixon were awake and alert but it was hard to see if they had any injuries or aches that they were hiding that could slow down their reaction time when the time came. Sergeant Apone was holding his side which was a possible indication that the gunshot wound he had received the day before had been either been reopened or was still tender and sensitive to touch and the resulting pain was distracting him to some extent which would impede his individual contributions to any assault they launched at Carnage.

Major Winters fought back the urge to swear as he took in the physical conditions of his comrades. Even if they all were at 100% they wouldn't last more than a couple minutes against Carnage. In their present states the best they could hope for was about forty-five seconds. The only small comfort he could see was that it would buy the remaining civilians around them the precious time they needed to get as far away from the homicidal monstrosity as possible. At least their deaths would mean that some people would be able to survive. It was an honour that every soldier wanted to have when they knew that they were going to fall in battle. The notions at having their deaths mean something to the greater good.

"Everyone! Attack Plan Crazy Horse!"

The other soldiers didn't waste any time turning towards Major Winters to acknowledge that they heard his command. They instead immediately sprang up and rushed towards Carnage. Their hands were up and ready to deliver the opening attacks of their dangerous battle strategy. Major Winters rushed forward as well determined to join his team mates and friends in their desperate struggle against their far stronger and exceptionally sinister enemy. Carnage abruptly stopped his fit of insane laughter as he noticed the soldiers advancing towards him from different directions all around him. His face switched from an expression of confusion to one of amusement again. A small grin spread across his red and black lipless mouth as a warm and cheerful thought passed through his mind.

_'Hey, if they are tired of living, who am I to deny them their wish?' _

Captain Mac and Lieutenant-Colonel Nixon were the first to reach Carnage as they had not suffered any serious scraps from being thrown off of him. Carnage lifted his left arm above his head and morphed his hand into a long curved hook. He swung it in a downward arch with the hope that the point of the grapnel would catch Nixon's chest and the momentum of the swing would tear and drag it across his body which would almost certainly inflict a fatal wound.

Nixon saw the transformation and instantly had an idea to counter Carnage's tactic. Nixon had been in the 'Bull Ring' several times during his military career which was the military version of a street fight where a soldier engaged in close combat with multiple opponents one after the other.

He lifted his arms and crossed them at the wrists which stopped the hook arm's downward swipe. The augmented strength of the symbiote magnified the force the swing was generating as it came down. Nixon instantly felt some of the bones in his wrists crack or even break as they stood up to the impact. He tightly gritted his teeth as the surge of pain shot through his body but he was still able to remain aware that he had been successful in stopping downward motion of the organic hook.

He quickly grabbed Carnage's left wrist and twisted it hard which caused him to lurch forward and tilt his upper body downward towards his waist. Without wasting another second Nixon drove his other elbow down across Carnage's arm at the elbow joint with all the force he could muster. The blow did its job as Carnage grunted with a visible and clear tone of pain as he felt the tendons in his arm strain from the impact of the perfectly placed elbow slam. Nixon quickly followed up by pulling Carnage up so that he was standing upright before immediately following up with a forward elbow thrust to the centre of Carnage's face. To a normal person a hit like that would have severely broken their nose and resulted in serious blood loss. However Carnage did not have a nose to aim for so all Nixon could hope to do was strike him hard enough to get through the dense material of his living costume and knock him out. Carnage's head snapped backwards from the elbow strike but it didn't render immediately him unconscious. Seeing that he was still awake Nixon immediately let go of Carnage's left arm and quickly put some distance between him and the red and black monster.

Carnage lowered his head and spat some red tinted saliva from his mouth. The red and black colours of his symbiote continued to flow, drip and swirl over his body which portrayed his feelings and emotions like the old coloured music lamps attached to stereos that were popular centuries ago. The soldiers could tell that Nixon's three part counter-attack had angered Carnage because parts of the costume began to move faster and turn blacker with increased intensity. The long tentacles of symbiotic material that sprang out and then quickly retracted back into his body did so much more quickly than normal and with noticeable more frequency.

"A nice effort my friends! However it was completely useless much like you little insects!"

Captain Mac had slowed his forward advance when he saw that Nixon was going to engage Carnage first. As Carnage was issuing his threat to them he resumed his advance with the intention of using the temporary distraction to his advantage. He decided to target Carnage's head since he was unsure whether he could continue the possible damage to his left arm from Nixon's assault with the way he was currently positioned. Mac took out his combat knife from his side holster and focused in on the spot at the back of Carnage's neck down at its base. If he could plunge his blade into that area and hit Sean's spinal cord underneath the outer layer of symbiotic skin he could end this either by killing the human half of Carnage or doing some serious physical damage to him. If it didn't immediately kill him outright it would mean that Sean would be paralyzed from either the neck or waist down but Carnage would still be rendered inert and thus their mission would be still be successful. Mac's eyes didn't blink once as he got closer and closer to his target. All he needed was just a few more seconds.

Carnage suddenly dropped down into a crouched position and began to spin around on the balls of his clawed feet. His movement was a call back to the discus throwers of the many past Olympic Games as he first went down into a low body position before springing back upwards with the kinetic energy of his legs. As he moved upwards he swung his right arm out from his body. Mac didn't see what was coming until it was too late. Carnage had morphed his arm into a razor-sharp semi-circle blade. Mac could not stop himself in time as he was too close to get out of the weapon's deadly radius. The blade made contact just above his right hip and continued upwards across his torso. It cut through his flesh like a katana slicing through a melon and literally cut him in half. As the blade exited his body at the spot between his left shoulder and neck the two pieces of his body fell apart as gravity immediately took hold of them and slid apart. They landed a couple of feet from each other with a disturbing and disgusting wet sound as Mac's face became forever frozen in an expression of wide-eyed surprise. Carnage finished his spin and came to a stop in a standing position as his arm changed back to its usual humanoid form.

The sight of the gory remains of their friend lying on the ground and the twin pools of rapidly spreading red liquid that were staining the cobblestones underneath them was enough to severely test the discipline and calm reserve of the remaining military men. They all exchanged looks with each other and charged forward as the anger and adrenaline pumped through their veins. Carnage flexed his body muscles again as he scanned the four incoming attackers. The swaying tentacles of his costume snaked out like a million strings and merged together at the base of each hand to form two huge mallets.

He aimed the blunt weapons at Major Winters and Corporal Hicks's chests and stretched his arms out like a telescope and hit them with the flat top of each mallet like a battering ram. This sent both of them hurdling backwards before bouncing off the ground as the momentum of the organic weapon passed into their bodies.

Without wasting any time the tentacles dripping off of the mallets as they continued to whizz forwards, ensnared Apone and Nixon and yanked them hard forwards to the ground before dragging them across the rough surface of the street to a spot at Carnage's feet. They both had been caught completely off-guard so they had been unable to brace their bodies for the ensuing impact of their bodies hitting the ground. They fell hard which sent a shockwave of intense pain from the tips of their chins to the bottom of their feet and stunned them for a few seconds. They could hear Winters and Hicks gasping for air behind them which told them that they were still conscious but were going to be very slow in getting back to their feet.

The symbiotic mallet strikes had forced the air from their lungs and cracked several of their ribs which had made their breathing laboured and extremely painful. Carnage began to laugh hysterically again as he reveled in the easy dismantling of their reckless offensive.

"C'mon fellas! Put a little more life into it! I am sure you can fight better than this. I need the practice as I want to be at my best for my re-match with the Sailor Soldiers! I'd really hate for them to think I've been slacking off for the past few hours! The pressure of constantly producing for one's peers is simply incredible!"

Carnage was so engrossed in his cruel mocking that he failed to notice that Dorrin had managed to get back to his feet and had successfully gotten behind him. Using both of his fists like a sledgehammer Dorrin smashed down as hard as he could on Carnage's left shoulder at the spot right at the base of his neck. A blow of that magnitude would have surely knocked a normal man out or possibly even paralyzed or killed them. The red and black monster instead went down to one knee but was already spinning his body around as Dorrin raised his arms to hit him again.

Dozens of knives spun off of Carnage like water out of a sprinkler as he turned his body. They quickly slashed Dorrin to pieces as he staggered backwards in a futile attempt to try to put some distance between him and Carnage. The razor sharp blades continued to fly until a couple of them sliced through the femoral arteries in his legs and forced him to the ground as the muscles in his legs gave out from underneath him. The final and fatal stroke was when a red organic blade nicked the side of his neck and severed his carotid artery. Instinctively Dorrin raised his hand to his neck and tried to stop the rapid blood loss as his heart continued to beat and spurt his blood out with each cardiac cycle. However, it was all for nought as the he quickly collapsed and died within seconds from exsanguination.

"Well boys, this has been very entertaining but I have some royal pains to kill!"

He morphed his arms into a Celtic double bladed axe and a curved scythe blade. He stretched and lifted his arms out to the side until his elbows and wrists were level with his shoulders. It was at that point that he began to rotate his weapons so that they were horizontal with the ground. He looked at the four remaining soldiers who were still in the various stages of recovery around him. They all were looking up at him as they had just witnessed the gruesome death of Staff Sergeant Dorrin. The look in their eyes showed that they all knew they were about to die and were determined to face it as men.

"I always wanted to try this. I saw it once in a samurai movie!"

He twisted and spun his body into a series of full rotations. As he spun his arms stretched out like a pair of whips. The instruments of death cut through the air and made a 'whooshing' sound as they travelled at high speed. Carnage lowered his body by bending his knees as he spun and moved the deadly arches from a high to low level. This prevented the soldiers from simply ducking underneath the lethal instruments. In less than five seconds it was all over. As he felt the blades pass through the final two bodies of the soldiers he morphed his hands back and came to a stop with one arm in front and one arm behind him. All around him the four soldiers' lifeless bodies slumped forwards or to the side, depending on which way the pull of gravity took them. Blood poured profusely from the various wounds that had just been inflicted.

Carnage stood up and looked around at the scene around him. He spied some frightened citizens peering out from some of the surrounding windows and doorways. Not one of them spoke a word or uttered a single sound. A few of them looked like they were trying desperately to hold back from throwing up as the level of violence they had just seen shocked their systems. They were all frozen with absolute terror and the paralyzing fear that they would be the next ones to die at the hands of this monster was clear as crystal from their body language. Carnage's body visibly relaxed as he stared at the largest group of visible on-lookers.

"Awe c'mon! I gotta score some style points for that one!"

"Wrong you unholy creature!"

Carnage spun around with a look of pleasant surprise plastered across his demonic looking face. About ten feet away from him stood a row of young women who were mostly obscured by the dimness of the long late afternoon shadows. He counted seven figures that stood before him which meant that there was one missing. _Was she dead or simply just too injured to battle?_ He silently asked himself. He preferred the former option but if she was still alive he would remedy that when he went to the Crystal Palace to destroy the last remaining obstacles to his intoxicatingly delicious philosophy of chaos.

"Killing people for sport is barbaric and beyond comprehension and we will not stand for it any longer. In the name of the heavenly planetary bodies of the Solar System and the protectors of Crystal Tokyo, we will punish you!"

End of Chapter Seven


	9. No Punches Pulled

Chapter 8

"Your murderous rampage ends now Carnage! By order of the King and Queen of Crystal Tokyo, we are here to take you before them to answer for your heinous crimes!"

Carnage looked at the line of young female warriors standing in front of him. He couldn't help himself as he let an arrogant smirk spread across his large mouth that was full of black needle-like teeth. It was positively amusing to him that these strong but clearly delusional young women believed that they could successfully take him down. From what he could see Sailor Uranus had visible bandages on her arm, shoulder and hip. Sailor Jupiter, his own wife,

had her arm in a sling and a thick bandage around her thigh. He quickly came to realize that Sailor Neptune was the missing Sailor warrior which meant that she was either the most injured of them all or had died. He leaned towards the former since he severely doubted that Sailor Uranus would have been able to emotionally control herself if she had died as a result of the wounds he had inflicted on her.

His response to Sailor Venus's bold statement was to raise his hand and point all five of his fingers at them like each one was the barrel of a gun with the hammer cocked back and ready to fire. Blood-like drops ran off the end of each finger and hit the ground in front of him before merging back with the symbiote in a continuous cycle. Like a time-elapsed film of plants growing Carnage's fingers sprouted nasty spiked points at their blackened tips. From their vantage point, the continuously moving symbiotic red skin again made the razor-sharp blades look as if blood was already dripping from them. That could be the Sailors' blood if he was successful in the inevitable battle that was seconds away.

"You talk too much!"

Carnage fired the spikes from his fingertips directly at the Sailors like five arrow bolts from a crossbow. Instinctively the young warriors jumped in all directions to avoid the incoming flying projectiles of death. Only Sailor Saturn stood her ground as she planted the bottom of her bladed glaive staff to the ground. As the base of the staff touched the cobblestones underneath her purple and white lightning suddenly appeared and cackled wildly at the tip of the twin curved steel blades.

"Silence Wall!"

The spike that had been aimed at her struck the newly created energy barrier and dozens of sparks instantly flew. Flashes of blues, oranges and reds lit up the area briefly as the invisible shield vaporized the spike with a loud sizzling hiss. The powerful energy that made up the protective shield surged for a few moments and temporarily blocked the view of Sailor Saturn from the others before returning to its original semi-transparent state.

"You will not defeat us Carnage! Even with our reduced number we are still stronger than you."

"Yeah? But I'm nastier!"

Before anyone could react or respond to his menacing boast a dozen tendrils sprang out from various points along his body and snaked through the air at incredible speed. They zeroed in and wrapped tightly around Sailor Mercury who was the closest of the Sailors to him. Before she could react, the symbiotic vines pinned her arms firmly to her sides and her legs together. Without any visible physical strain or effort the tendrils lifted her off the ground. In one quick flicking motion he threw her directly at where Sailor Saturn was standing.

Sailor Saturn's eyes widened with surprise as she saw her friend coming straight at her at high speed. Her energy barrier was still activated as a protective measure in case Carnage flung any more sharp objects at her. It had proven that it would protect her and anyone else that was inside it from Carnage's symbiotic weapons which were organic alien in origin but still could be classified as living tissue. However she wasn't sure if Sailor Mercury's Sailor powers would neglect or cancel out the effects of her own Sailor powered shield and thus prevent her body from being burned to a crisp like the dart. It was a risk that she wasn't about to take not and certainly not when her friend's life was at stake.

She lifted her staff off the ground and broke the shield's connection to the planet's internal power supply which quickly dissipated the residual energy surrounding her. She didn't have any time to avoid Sailor Mercury as she crashed into her with the protective shield now gone. They both tumbled backwards and landed in a heap on the cobblestone street. Carnage began to laugh hysterically as he watched the two young warriors struggle to get back to their feet after his clever counter-attack.

The other Sailors were slow to react as they all took in what they had just witnessed. It shook each of them to their very cores at just how much disregard Carnage had for human life now. It only further proved to them that their friend was truly gone as the man they had once known would have never treated any one of them like a piece of garbage.

"Oh look at that, I threw a strike! Ha Ha Ha!" Carnage exclaimed with child-like glee.

"It wasn't that funny. Crescent Beam Shower!" Sailor Venus barked.

"Game's over laughing boy. Space Turbulence!" Sailor Uranus added.

Sailor Venus raised her right hand and extended her index finger. She instantly began to collect energy from her surrounding environment. In no time at all her right hand began to glow which was the signal that her attack was ready. She lowered her arm and aimed her extended finger directly at Carnage. As soon as her hand was level with her target she released the energy in the form of a thick laser beam. At the exact same time Sailor Uranus raised both of her hands over her head and mirroring her team mate's actions as she collected the invisible energy from all around her as well. After a few seconds her hands began to rippled and crackle with powerful-looking white lightning. It was at that point that she threw her hands down and unleashed the gathered energy at the homicidal monster standing before her at the same time Sailor Venus fired her beam.

As the beam that was fired by the long haired blonde warrior rapidly approached Carnage it split apart into multiple thinner laser strands which continued to shoot forward toward him Sailor Uranus' white lightning merged with Sailor Venus' yellow laser beams to create a more powerful attack.

In response Carnage threw up his arms and leaned back as he planted one leg behind the other to brace himself for the incoming impacts of the beams and white energy lightning. His symbiotic skin covering his arms and legs flared out into dozens of whips and strands before intertwining together into a single large red and black mass. A second before the combined mass of powerful energy connected with him the bundle of alien tissue split apart and instantly formed into a pair of large bulwark shields. A second later, the laser beams and lightning struck the protective organic barriers and the resulting explosive reaction created a concussive shockwave that kicked up a huge thick cloud of dust, dirt and other debris particles that obscured the Sailors' view of Carnage for several seconds.

Sailor Venus lowered her body and placed her hands on the front of her knees as she breathed heavily and tried to physically recover from her attack. She had put everything she had into that barrage of beams with the hope that she could end this battle quickly before anyone else got hurt. Like her fellow Sailors she kept her eyes fixated on where their opponent had been last seen as they all waited anxiously to see if hers and Uranus' combined attacks had been successfully in completely stopping Carnage. As the seconds ticked by and the dark dirty cloud surrounding the spot where Carnage had just been standing slowly dissipated her mind flashed back to when they had first arrived on the scene only a few minutes earlier.

They had left the Crystal Palace only minutes after the military commandos had. With their enhanced physical endurance and strength they should have caught up to them or even reached Carnage's location first. However as they raced through the streets the stampeding crowds of citizens as they ran to safety and the resulting civil unrest caused by Carnage's presence and actions were creating all sorts of new problems. They had to stop several times to save people from being trampled or severely hurt as the inhabitants of Crystal Tokyo scrambled desperately to find a safe place to hide from the monster that had invaded their kingdom. These repeated delays had ended up costing them precious minutes and held up their arrival at their destination. This had allowed Carnage the time to slaughter numerous innocent people and the squadron of royal guards.

When they finally did make it to the area where Carnage had been last reported to have been they were absolutely shocked at what they found. Where there should be signs of life, the neighbourhood around them was now deathly silent. There were no screams or sounds of any sort other than the ones they were making as they walked or breathed. There were numerous signs all around them of needless destruction caused more than likely by the people in the area desperately trying to get away from Carnage. It was a sight that they had prayed none of them would ever have to see again the indication that chaos had once again returned to their lives despite Neo-Queen Serenity and the Silver Moon Crystal's protection.

"Guys,"

They all turned to look at Sailor Mars who was staring intensely at a small shop off to their right. Her head and eyes were cast downward as she looked at something near the front doorway. They all panned their eyes down to see what Sailor Mars was staring at. They saw the single set of bloody footprints that exited the store. The prints were clearly made with bare feet as there were no signs of any sort of tread pattern that would indicate the presence of shoes or boots. They also appeared to be animal-like in their shape as the toes came to a point rather than being rounded as one would see in a human footprint. At the end of each toe was a narrow triangular tip that looked almost like a claw and was similar to the prints left by an animal like a large Kodiak bear.

Each of them felt a lump grow inside their throat and they all consciously tried to swallow it as they fought their internal common sense to not enter and investigate the store's interior. However they needed to know what had happened in there and what they had come to fight. That sense of purpose and duty trumped their overall fear and nervousness of what they would find inside once they entered the establishment.

They slowly piled into the store and spread out into a horizontal line just inside the front entrance. The inside of the shop that had once been a place that smelled of fresh foods and flowers and where citizens had come to buy delicious fruits as well as converse with friends and neighbours now smelled like a slaughterhouse. A strong copper smell of blood filled the store with the thick choking odour of death that not even the cool breeze from the open front and back doors could clear out. Pools of blood were drying in black spots along the floor and thin red lines of it were splattered on the walls and over everything else as if an angry child had gone crazy with a set of paints. From each of their individual vantage points they could see at least two horribly maimed bodies scattered around the building's large interior.

"My, god." Sailor Mercury whispered.

"I think I am going to be sick."Sailor Venus stated as she turned her body away.

"We have to stop him Jupiter, by any means necessary now!" Sailor Mars said as she turned to look over at the tall brunette.

"This isn't him! Aldrich corrupted him; he would never do this," Sailor Jupiter weakly replied, trying to sound convincingly but failing.

"But he did! And we have a duty to our kingdom! We cannot let our personal feelings distract us from doing what we must!" Sailor Uranus countered.

"Everyone! Over here." Sailor Saturn called over from across the store.

Everyone turned to look over at the spot where Sailor Saturn had called from. She had remained silent since entering the store but had wandered off as the others each tried to deal with the beyond horrific scene around them. They walked down one of the disorganized aisles. They were very careful to not step on any of the bodies, puddles of blood or the various grocery items that had fallen to the floor during the chaos of the massacre. When they all reached the spot where Sailor Saturn was they followed her head position and stared at the section of wall directly in front of them. There on the plain white drywall in large letters were two words.

'Carnage Rules!'

It was clear that the words had been written in blood as there were streaks coming off the letters where the liquid had dripped down due to gravity. Visually, the look and texture also matched the dozens of puddles and streaks around the store behind them as well.

"Jupiter, we need you completely in this! Are you willing to fight with everything you have?"

"I don't know, I still love him with all my heart!"

"He is not the same person you married! You have to understand that!"

A distant and sudden series of screams cut Sailor Mars' comment short. All of them quickly turned their heads around to look back at the front door of the store as they each tried to determine where exactly the chorus of screams had come from. By eerily luck, the fates answered them again as another group of screeches broke the grim silence that had once again filled the shop of horrors. Sailor Uranus and Venus rushed to the door and then outside with the other Sailors following right behind them. They ran out to the middle of the street and closed their eyes to block out all the other sights and sounds around them. Sailor Mars used her psychic intuition to feel the flow of invisible energy around them and look for the evil presence that Carnage was sure to be giving off. After a few seconds her eyes abruptly flapped open and her head turned sharply to the left.

"This way, follow me!"

They had run as fast as their Sailor strength would allow them as they followed Sailor Mars' lead. As they moved through the streets, the distinctive screams and unmistakeable sounds of terror got increasingly louder as they closed in on the epic-center of the chaos. Sailor Mars had led them to the rooftop of an apartment building where she stopped at the edge before casting her eyes downward to the street below. In no time, the rest of them had each taken positions on either side of her before looking down as well.

They had arrived just as Carnage finished killing his former team of commandos. They watched in temporary paralysis as he had morphed his arms into a pair of sharp bladed weapons that had caused more than a cold shiver to pass down a few of their spines. Before any of them could have reacted he had spun those blades around in a deadly circle and his arms had stretched out to non-human lengths to cover the distance between him and his intended targets. Their body numbness became extended for a few more seconds as they watched the last four members of his former team collapse to the ground with large visible pools of blood rapidly spreading out from underneath them. His insane laughter that had followed after had snapped each of them out of their temporary frozen states and refocused on their purpose for coming.

"This ends now, no more death, no more pain!"

"Everyone! Get Ready!"

Sailor Venus snapped out of her memory recall at the sound of Sailor Uranus' remark and refocused her eyes back on the spot where Carnage had last been seen. A short distance away from her, the dust cloud was quickly clearing away and in a few more seconds it would be completely gone and they would be able to see the results of the combined attack from Sailor Uranus and herself. Through the rapidly thinning mist a shadowy humanoid figure began to come into view. As the last of the cloud blew away the Sailors let out a collectively gasp of surprise that contained more than a hint of utter shock.

Carnage was still standing which was a disturbing demonstration of the enhanced degree of physical strength that he possessed to avoid being blown back by the incredible amount of force created by the impact of their combined attacks. His organic shields that he had made from his arms and legs had managed to hold up against the combined energy assault. However he had not escaped completely unscathed as the symbiote was showing signs of being in some level of physical distress. Tendrils of various lengths were flailing around his body and gave it the appearance that it was panicking or in some amount of pain. It would be revealed later that this was due to the "thunder clap" of sound that was created at the point of impact when the energy attacks made contact with Carnage. It was common knowledge to the Sailors that loud noise or any sound at very high decibels was one of the symbiote's greatest weaknesses.

A few seconds after the dust cloud had vanished Carnage lowered his arms and changed them back to their usual human-like appearance. He completed the change by forming a long black claw at end of each finger. These claws were larger than they normally were and were about the size of a Bengal tiger's. He lifted his head to look at each of them. His large white pupil-less eyes contained a stare that sent shivers throughout each of their bodies. When he saw the unmistakeable signs of nervousness and fear in each of their eyes he couldn't help but let a wide black toothed grin spread once again across his oversized mouth.

"Hoo Haa! That was a scream!"

"You won't win Carnage! We have defeated every enemy that we have faced and we will stop you!"

"In your dreams pretty lady! You may have defeated everyone else but you won't defeat me!"

With the completion of that arrogant boast Carnage instantly morphed his arms in a pair of semi-circle blades again. He threw his arms out to the side and began to spin like a ballerina. He used his agile feet to move quickly around the battle area as he swung the blades like a deadly pair of guillotines. In response, the Sailors all jumped clear of the blades and quickly put a safe distance between him and them. Sailor Mercury took the momentary distraction as Carnage passed by her to attack.

"Shine Aqua Illusion!"

She placed her hands on the front of her shoulders. She then began to spin around in place on the soles of her knee high white boots as she collected droplets of water from the surrounding air. These water particles collected in between her hands as she raised them above her head. When she had gathered enough water she abruptly stopped twirling and faced Carnage as she sent the compiled water mass at him. Her blast of water struck him in the middle of his back and spread out over his body due to the splash effect of the attack. Almost he became encased in a block of solid ice from head to toe.

The Sailors all breathed a collective sigh of relief as they felt their individual hopes begin to instantly build. They had done it they had really done it, they thought to themselves. They had managed to capture Carnage without resorting to the unthinkable or extreme measures. Now all they had to do was get him back to the Crystal Palace so that Neo-Queen Serenity could purify him and re-curse the symbiote with a "soul" once again.

They began to collectively think of a way to safely transport their current prisoner and hopefully soon their dear friend back to the Crystal Palace. As they brainstormed Sailor Saturn noticed something out of the corner of her eye and quickly voiced a warning to her team mates.

"Everyone, he is breaking free!"

The Sailors all fixated their eyes on the still frozen form of Carnage as they feverishly hoped that Sailor Saturn was wrong in her observation. Their spirits quickly fell as they saw that the symbiote was indeed causing visible cracks to form along the outer surface of the ice block as it drilled through its icy prison and wiggled through the narrow tunnels it was creating. In less than three minutes the block of frozen water had become weak enough due to the dozens of internal fissures that Carnage was able to flex his muscles. He used his augmented strength to move his arms outwards and kick his legs forwards to violently smash the ice shell that held him to pieces.

Knowing that they had less than a few seconds before he would be fully free and able to re-engage them in combat Sailor Jupiter rushed forward. She couldn't remain on the sidelines any longer while her friends picked up her slack. This monster was not her husband. She knew that now but it had taken her awhile to finally fully convince herself of that fact. She had to help her friends stop him with all of her power or there was a very good chance that one or more of them would die because of her hesitation and reluctance. That was something that she would never forgive herself for and never let happen if she had any say in the matter. With her left arm still firmly in a sling her current attack options were limited.

"Sparkling Wide Pressure!"

The antenna in the middle of her tiara rose up from its resting place again as it began to collect the electrical energy from the electrons in the matter all around her. She brought her hands together as she ignored the pain in her shoulder and rose them up towards her forehead as high as she could with her current limited range of motion in her left shoulder. The collected electrical energy passed from the tip of the antenna to her hands. She spread her right arm wide which caused the gathered energy to crackle and pop as it took the form of small lightning bolts that flicked back and forth through the open space between her hands. She locked her bright green eyes on Carnage and pressed her hands together as she twisted her body to the right. Her gesture of bringing of her hands back together caused the collected energy mass to be re-shaped into a small ball disc of concentrated power. It was about the size of a softball and radiated a light blue hue. In a single graceful motion just like a professional baseball pitcher she reared her right arm back and hurled the energy ball at the creature that had taken over her beloved's body.

Carnage's large white eyes were like an insect's compound eyes in that they allowed him to have incredible peripheral vision and in the spots where his eyes couldn't see the symbiote relayed other sensory information to assist him. He saw the blue and white flashing energy disc coming at him the very second it left Jupiter's hand. He quickly turned completely around to face her before leaping forward into a roll. This allowed her attack to pass harmlessly over him. Her energy disc continued on until it impacted into the side of the building directly behind him. The consequence of the impact was the destruction of a huge section of the wall and the sending of bits of mortar and clay out in all directions. When Carnage came out of his evasive roll and stood back up he looked directly at the source of the attack with an amused smirk on his ugly face.

"Here Comes the Bride! All Dressed in White! I wish it was Red then you'll be dead! Welcome to the battle honey lips!"

The horrible and tasteless comment towards her infuriated Sailor Jupiter to levels she had never thought possible. She instantly lost her temper and charged forward again. As she rushed towards Carnage she raised her right hand clenched it into a fist so tightly that she could have created a diamond from the level of internal pressure. When she got within striking distance she launched herself into a frenzy of wild punches and kicks that drew on her many years of marital arts training in various disciplines as she had done many times in the past. However her current level of rage was making her sloppy and reckless and she began to telegraph her moves.

Despite his current insane mental state Carnage was still a formidable fighter. He easily read her movements like a well-seasoned warrior and patiently waited for the right opportunity to strike as he blocked and countered her physical attacks. He ducked under a roundhouse kick from Sailor Jupiter and as her momentum spun her body around so that her back was briefly facing him he sent a strand of symbiotic tissue upwards with a small rectangular brick at the end of it. As she came back around to face him, the tendril struck her in the solar plexus like a battering ram. This caused a "woof" of air to blow out of her mouth as the force of the blow pushed against her diaphragm. She dropped down to her knees as the intense pain rocked her body and she struggled to regain her normal breathing rhythm.

Carnage stood up and casually walked up to the spot where she was kneeling and hunched over. Not wanting to waste any time with verbal banter he reached down and roughly grabbed her by the back of her white and green Sailor uniform. With no visible sign of physical strain he lifted her up off her feet with one arm like a person picking up a piece of fruit. He extended his arm out passed its usual length so that her long legs were not touching the ground and she dangled helplessly in the air. He reached his other arm back and a huge battle ax blade formed at the end of his arm. Sailor Jupiter's eyes widened as she saw the instrument that was meant to end her life and began to furiously claw and scratch at the wrist and arm that held her. This was very much like how Carnage had reacted when the demon prince Gaap had held him in the very same position many years ago. Her desperate efforts were not getting the desired effect as she could not get enough leverage to break free with her feet still dangling uselessly in the air.

"I guess you can say that you axed for this Sailor J!"

"Fire Soul!"

A fireball struck the ax blade and quickly engulfed the entire limb in a blazing inferno. The effect of the sudden attack was immediate as Carnage quickly dropped Sailor Jupiter and cradled the injured arm tightly against his torso. He screamed out in pain as the smell of burning organic tissue quickly filled the air. From her vantage point Sailor Uranus could see that the symbiotic skin had been burned away and had exposed the human hand and forearm of Sean underneath. As she continued to watch Carnage's reaction to Sailor Mars' attack she took note that the alien skin appeared to be very slow in its healing and regeneration. An idea quickly formed inside her brain as she looked towards her partner Sailor Saturn and locked her blue eyes with hers. She gave her young team mate a grim look and a slight nod of the head which was mirrored back by the soldier of rebirth. They shared a quick silent conversation between them as they shaped a battle strategy.

Sailor Saturn turned her head to look back towards where Carnage was standing and proceeded to rush in and engage him. Carnage turned his head to watch her as she approached. Sailor Mercury used the opportunity to hurry over to where Sailor Jupiter was. She was slowly getting back to her feet but she looked to be bad shape. Sailor Venus also took advantage of Carnage's fixation on Sailor Saturn to move in to assist her in battling the symbiotic monstrosity.

As the rest of the Sailors moved around the battlefield to either engage Carnage or offer aid to Sailor Jupiter Sailor Uranus hurried over to where Sailor Mars currently situated. She roughly grabbed the raven-haired warrior's arm to get her attention and prevent her from entering the fray with their others. She looked first at the hand that was grasping her and then up at the face of the person it belonged to. Her face had an expression that was a mixture of confusion, surprise and annoyance.

"Uranus! What are you doing?"

"Listen! You are the only one out of all of us that has the power to seriously hurt that thing. You need to use your power to its fullest extent and keep it going until it is over!"

"Wait! What? I can't do that, if I do that I will kill him!"

"We don't have a choice! We can't hold him long enough to get him before our queen and the longer we battle it will only be a matter of time before he manages to kill one or all of us. If that happens there will be no one left to stop him and this kingdom will be destroyed!"

Sailor Mars was speechless as she was unable to find the words to counter her friend's grim argument. Reacting on instinct she looked back over at the spot where the battle was currently raging.

Carnage's injured hand was almost completely covered again with the red alien skin. He was trading blows with both Sailor Saturn and Venus at that moment. He was continuously sending out dozens of tendrils some with razor-sharp barbs at the ends, in all directions at his two opponents with the hopes of impaling or slicing them to pieces. Sailor Saturn was using her bladed glaive to cleave the attacking strands as they approached her. Each of the severed pieces fell to the ground as her blades slashed through the living costume's material with ease before slithering across the ground to rejoin the main body. Sailor Venus meanwhile was using her "Love-Me" chain in a defensive manner by whipping it around her to keep the living tentacles at bay. A short distance away from them Sailor Mercury and Jupiter were both back on their feet and looked like they were getting ready to re-join the battle with their friends.

"There has to be another way! The Silver Moon Crystal,"

"is useless to us unless it is wielded by Neo-Queen Serenity! You are the only one with the power to defeat that murderous creep!"

Sailor Mars couldn't argue with her friend's point again. Ever since Usagi had ascended to the throne and became Neo-Queen Serenity she had lost the ability to become Sailor Moon. That meant that she no longer had the red sonic amplifiers that she had worn in her hair. None of the other Sailors had the power or tools to generate continuous highly concentrated sonic waves. This ultimately had limited their attack options when battling a symbiote to a significant degree. It was also true that unless they could get Carnage to the Crystal Palace Neo Queen Serenity wouldn't be able use the full power of the Silver Moon Crystal that was probably necessary to successfully re-curse him.

The Silver Moon Crystal was the most powerful item in the Sailors' possession and could only be used by someone of the royal bloodline which meant a direct descendent of the Moon Kingdom of the Silver Millennium. This meant that only Neo-Queen Serenity had the ability to use it. However the Crystal Palace itself enhanced the Silver Moon Crystal's powers because of its design and magical properties. This is what gave the queen her nearly god-like powers. It was this fact that had led to an unfortunate realization.

Sailor Mercury had discovered that Neo-Queen Serenity's life force was now directly linked to the Silver Moon Crystal and the Crystal Palace like it had been when she had still been able to transform into Sailor Moon. This meant that Neo-Queen Serenity had to remain in close proximity to the crystal and the Crystal Palace at all times or her health would begin to deteriorate and her magical powers would steadily weaken over time. As a result of this startling conclusion she had not left the palace except for very short diplomatic missions or matters of extreme importance. In the four years since they had become queen she had only been outside the palace four times for the purposes of pleasure. One of those times had been the wedding of Sailor Jupiter and Carnage which had taken place just outside the Crystal Palace.

It was simply out the question to have Neo-Queen Serenity leave the safety of the palace to come to their location. It was too dangerous as the initial reduction in her powers could prove to be fatal if Carnage managed to get a lucky hit on her. There was also the risk that Aldrich had other agents inside the Kingdom which could assassinate Neo-Queen Serenity as she made her way to them. Her death would mark the end of the prophecy of a peaceful era on planet Earth and almost surely cause it to sink back into the violent and dark ways of its past.

"Mars! You have a duty to protect this kingdom by order of the King and Queen! You must do whatever is necessary to save the lives of the innocent people you have sworn to defend!"

"I don't know if I can."

"You don't have a choice! Do it or the deaths of the people killed as a result of your inaction will be on your conscious!"

Sailor Mars looked back at the monster that was battling her friends. She watched as two thick pseudopods shot out of his body and each struck Sailors Saturn and Mercury in their chests with their blunt rounded heads. She continued to watch as the force of the impacts sent then hurdling back into the sides of a pair of nearby buildings. Sailor Venus continued to attack with her energy whip but she had made the mistake of letting herself get too close to Carnage. He sensed her close proximity and in response he created six thick sharp-tipped lances that exploded out from his body in several different directions at once. The speed that the symbiotic spears had erupted from the red skin was lightning quick and caught Sailor Venus completely by surprise.

One of the weaponized heads caught her dead centre in her left thigh. It sunk deep into the muscle tissue of her quadriceps and instantly rendered the leg absolutely useless. As it retracted back into Carnage's body, the head of the lance broke off. Sailor Venus screamed out in extreme pain and collapsed to the ground as blood gushing down her leg. After she had collapsed to the ground she held her leg up with her white gloved hands in reaction to the level of pain that was rocketing through her body. Carnage stood only two feet away from where she had fallen and was poised to finish her off. A short distance away Sailor Jupiter sprang into action.

"Flower Hurricane!"

Pink flower petals suddenly appeared out of thin air and began to swirl all around her. She lifted her arms up to cross her wrists above her head as she ignored the pain she felt in her left shoulder. Inside her veins, the adrenaline that was surging through her was temporarily blocking it out of her mind. Lines of the floral petals flowed behind her hands as they traced circles in the air along the way. She then quickly spun around on the soles of her boots and extended her right hand toward Carnage which sent the flurry of razor sharp pink petals at him.

The jagged edged petals sailed passed Carnage and sliced his arms, legs and body as they flew by him. Any of the discarded pieces of symbiote that had been cut off by the barrage quickly rejoined with the main body after they hit the ground. However the amount of flower petals that Sailor Jupiter was sending at him was managing to cause noticeable damage to the human body underneath as the sheer number of pieces being lopped off was faster than the rate the symbiote could heal itself. She kept up the attack for as long as she could as she was determined to not fail her friends by giving into her physical exhaustion too soon.

After about a minute and a half she finally reached her body's physical limits and abruptly stopped the attack as she struggled to remain erect as her internal gas tank was now running on fumes. As the last of the flower petals sailed passed him the symbiote quickly healed the wounds they inflicted. Carnage looked up at her with a cruel and malevolent smile. In a blur of movement that seemed faster than what was possible he stretched both of his arms out like an elastic band and grabbed Jupiter. He retracted his limbs so that she was once again up close with him with his face inches from hers.

"So, you want to play the old Skin Game?"

Jupiter did not have time to begin to even think of what he was talking about before the symbiotic strands holding her shrunk inwards and became thinner while still maintaining their incredible tensile strength. This reduction in the tendrils' size exposed more of the bare skin on her arms and legs that had previously covered by them. Almost instantly after the pseudopods had finished shrinking small knife blades formed along Carnage's body and flicked outwards and cut her body at various spots. A surge of intense pain shot through her body again as the sharp organic blades cut deep into her flesh.

She managed to tilt her head so that she could glance down. Her body suddenly went numb when she saw that the skin on the top of both of her arms had been peeled back to expose the dark red muscle tissue and in some places her ivory coloured bones. She felt a cool draft on her legs and the continuous surges of pain that were coming from them lead her to believe that her legs were probably also wounded in the same fashion. Carnage began to laugh hysterically as he felt her body jerk and struggle against the tendrils that firmly held her as result of the pain she was in.

"Don't you just love games?"

The sight of her friend in such an intense state of pain along with her other friend on the ground with the head of symbiotic lance still protruding out from her leg as she continued to bleed profusely touched something deep and dark inside Sailor Mars. It was the part of her personality that she had long since kept hidden from the people that she cared the most about. It was the place where she kept the dark and negative aspects of her psyche locked away. It was also the area where her personal feelings toward her father, the shame of her past failures and her philosophical disposition towards violence were kept. Seeing two of her best friends be put on the brink of death had finally convinced her that Sailor Uranus was right and that she had to end this now or they would all end up being killed.

"Carnage, you are finished!"

Sailor Uranus rushed straight towards him after Sailor Mars had given her a single nod of her head. At the very last second, she side-stepped to the right to avoid Carnage's swipe with a thick symbiotic whip from his ribcage. She grabbed Sailor Jupiter tightly by the waist as she moved passed him. The force of her forward momentum and the split-second surprise element of her abrupt and agile movement to avoid his attack allowed her to pull Sailor Jupiter free from his grasp and quickly get her to a safe distance. Carnage gave them a dumbfounded facial expression as he watched them move away from him and the sudden turn of events. It was just the distraction that Sailor Mars had needed.

She felt the intense power rapidly building up inside her. It was an incredibly strong sensation and something that she have never felt before ever. She concluded that it was because she was tapping into something that she had chosen to purposely avoid and thus was now bursting at the seams to finally be unleashed. She clasped her hands tightly together with her two index fingers extended outwards. A swirling fireball abruptly formed at the tips of her pointed fingertips and hovered there for a second or two.

"Mars Scorching Inferno!"

The fireball suspended just above her fingers instantly turned into a thick stream of fire that shot out at an impossibly fast speed at Carnage. It struck him directly in the middle of his chest and the force of the impact's momentum sent him violently back against the wall of the building directly behind him Her fire blast continued as she tightly closed her eyes so she could have all her mental concentration towards keeping her attack going.

The intense heat of the flames rose the surrounding temperature of the area and made the immediate environment around the Sailors feel like the surface of the sun or possibly even the planet Mercury. All around the battle field they watched in complete shock as they saw what was going on. They had never seen their friend display this kind of raw power before and it was beyond both unsettling and horrific for them to witness.

Somewhere behind the blinding glare of the fires Carnage was screaming a maddening and beastial howl as he continued to struggle in vain to escape the fiery assault His screams were like a wounded animal caught in a trap as the wailing became an un-natural screech that chilled the blood in the Sailors' veins. His symbiote was completely powerless against the heat and flames generated by Sailor Mars as it was the one thing that was fatal to it besides concentrated sound.

Sailor Mars tuned out the shrieks of pain and anguish coming from him as she knew that she had to continue or he would simply heal and make sure she paid for her lack of resolve. The only voices she allowed herself to hear were her own internal consciousness that was telling her to continue on with the attack and Sailor Uranus' which was encouraging to remain steadfast and complete her task.

"Keep going Mars! Don't stop!"

Her flame thrower attack continued and it quickly became clear to the other Sailors that two things were going to happen Carnage was not going to be able to escape Sailor Mars' attack as the flaying and screams of the symbiote were becoming more and more guttural and beastial. It was what they would imagine a death cry from an animal would sound like. Perhaps even more disturbing was the second thing was something that they never would have thought their friend would be capable of. Sailor Mars wasn't going to stop her attack until Carnage was dead!

Sailor Jupiter quickly realized this as she looked at her friend and saw the intense level of concentration that she was giving towards her attack. There were absolutely no physical signs from her that she was going to stop any time soon. Her eyes widened as the reality of that disturbing fact washed over her. She looked back at where Carnage was still pinned firmly against the wall by the force of the fire stream. Despite that the bright glare of the red and orange flames was near blinding, she was still able to see him moving among the deadly looking barrage. However her mild psychic connection to him was still firmly intact. It was what had allowed him to know of her 'deaths' at the North Pole and at the hands of Galaxia when he had been thousands of miles away. It was also the way he had been able to send his strength to them through the astral plane to increase the power of the Sailor Planet Attack they had used against Super Beryl in the seemingly final confrontation with the Dark Kingdom.

She could feel his strength rapidly declining as he was brought closer and closer to the brink of death. It would only be a matter of minutes or even seconds before he would be burned to death right in front of her. Despite all that he had done to her, to her friends and to the dozens of people he had murdered since Aldrich had removed the 'curse' on his symbiote she still loved him with all of her heart. She wasn't sure if she could ever fully forgive him for what he had done but he was still her one true love. Of that she was absolutely certain.

"Mars, stop, please stop!"

"Don't listen to her Mars! Keep going, protect the kingdom!"

"Mars, in the name of god, please stop!"

"If you stop, he will kill every living thing on Earth!"

The desperation in Sailor Jupiter's voice rose to extreme levels as she continued to fight with Sailor Uranus to get Sailor Mars' attention. She could now feel that she had only seconds left before it would be too late and Carnage would be no more. She rose up to her knees and blocked out the pain in her legs. She looked directly at Sailor Mars and tensed her body into a rigid posture. Tears of both terror and sadness continued to swell up in her eyes and cascade down her cheeks as she reached out towards her friend with her right arm.

"Mars, please don't kill my baby's father!"

End of Chapter 8


	10. A Shocking Revelation

Chapter 9

"Mars! Please don't kill my baby's father!"

That last desperate plea from Sailor Jupiter finally broke through Sailor Mars' intense level of mental concentration. Her tightly closed eyes flicked open and a loud audible 'gasp' blew from her pursued lips as her breathing abruptly sped up for a few seconds before returning to its usual rhythmic pattern. With a second or two, the loss of her focus caused the thick stream of fire from the ends of her index fingers to abruptly stop.. Her hands remained tightly clasped together as she began to finally feel the physical tolls that her attack had put on her body.

She abruptly dropped down to one knee and placed her left hand flat on the ground to halt her fall and act as a support for the rest of her body. Her face was cast downward at the brown cobblestone street underneath her. Her long raven black hair hung off her shoulders and obscured most of her face. After a few seconds she lifted her head and looked over towards where Carnage had just been standing.

The blinding orangey-red glare of the flames had quickly disappeared with the intense heat when she had suddenly stopped the flow of planetary power that had been continuously feeding her attack. Also, the forward momentum of the fire blast that had been keeping Carnage pressed firmly against the wall had also quickly dissipated. This had caused him to fall forwards as his body over compensated in its attempts to remain standing. His body went limp and twisted to the right as he descended so that he landed on his right shoulder with a hard bounce before rolling onto his back. His red symbiotic costume was almost completely gone except for a few burnt pieces of organic material that were left on his body and a few puddles of bubbling crimson liquid on the ground around him.

With his living costume mostly gone all that remained was the human body of Sean. He as lying semi-nude on the ground as most of his civilian clothing had been incinerated during Sailor Mars' attack. He was unconscious and with the deathly quiet atmosphere that now filled the area small murmurs of sound could be heard coming from his mouth as his body continued to take in air. He was in very bad shape and it was nothing short of both amazing and horrible to the Sailors that he was still alive after enduring such a violent looking assault for as long as it had occurred. His human skin was severely burned in several spots and was now blistering in some areas. Some of his sandy blonde hair had been burned away and had left scalded patches along his scalp in their place. Around them, the smell of burning meat filled the air which made some of the Sailors visibly nauseous.

Across the entire battlefield time seemed to have come to a screeching halt as everyone became frozen in place upon the reveal of Sailor Jupiter's unexpected confession. All of the Sailors wore the exact same facial expression as they all stared directly at their team mate and friend who still remained down on her knees. In each of their eyes, she could see that they were clearly demanding to know whether what she had just said was indeed true or just a last ditch attempt to save the man that she loved.

Sailor Jupiter maintained her fixated stare at Sailor Mars and did not break it to look at her other friends. She could feel their gazes on her though and knew that they all had been caught completely by surprise by her sudden admission. Her bright green eyes were still opened wide and stained red from the irritation caused by the acid in the tears that continued to pour down her cheeks. Her breathing was very erratic as her breaths came in rapid and short bursts. Her body was also in very rough shape physically just like Carnage's. The severe injuries to her forearms and legs were still in the process of clotting as the blood continued to flow and run down the length of her limbs and stain her white gloves and boots. She was clearly suffering from physical exhaustion as a result of the blood loss because she was having a hard time keeping her body upright and the colour of her skin was noticeably fading. Her eyes were full of remorse and regret which confirmed to anyone that could see them that what she had just confessed was indeed true. It had certainly not been the way that she had wanted to tell her friends the wonderful news but she had been forced to make a choice. It was a desperate one by any standard but one that she didn't regret.

"Jupiter, you are pregnant?"

Sailor Mercury broke her temporary state of paralysis and moved to a position beside her friend. She knelt down so that she was at the same level as her. Her expression changed to one of deep concern as she looked more closely at her friend's various wounds. She lifted Jupiter's left arm very gently and visually inspected it with her trained medical eyes. Her mouth tightened into a thin line as the severity of the wounds became abundantly clear upon closer inspection.

"Mercury, my leg, I can't feel my leg,"

Sailor Mercury looked up and quickly turned her head towards where Sailor Venus was. In all of the unexpected surprises and confusion of the last few minutes everyone had almost forgotten about Sailor Venus who was still down on the ground on her back and writhing around on the cobblestone street. Sailor Mercury rushed over to her side with Sailor Saturn joining her a second later. Sailor Uranus and Mars in turn moved to where Sailor Jupiter was and took over the tasks of monitoring and comforting her.

Sailor Mercury examined the red and black spearhead still deeply imbedded in Venus' left thigh. She could see that the bleeding from the wound had begun to slow down as it clotted around the foreign object but there was enough blood on the ground around Sailor Venus to tell her what was more than likely going on. Her skin colour was beginning to fade and the rapid onset of numbness in her lower limbs only confirmed her suspicions. She lifted her head and called over to Sailor Mars and Uranus.

"Venus has lost too much blood. She is going into shock just like Jupiter will be shortly. We need to get them both back to the hospital now or they won't make it!"

"You mean Venus will lose her leg?"

"That is the least of our worries. They will both die if we don't get them to the hospital and stabilize them."

"Mercury! The lance, something is happening!"

Sailor Mercury quickly turned back around to look at the symbiotic spearhead. Sailor Saturn was indeed correct in that the blood-red organic object was slowly turning a light pink. On top of that it was also becoming noticeably brittle as small cracks were forming along the outer edges of it. Her brow furrowed and she bit her lower lip as she quickly began to realize what was happening.

Just like earlier that day when Carnage had injured Jupiter with the dart to her shoulder the symbiotic tissue was quickly losing its molecular stability and was now in the process of crumbling to dust after being separated from the main body for too long. If it was in her nature to swear she would have at this particular moment.

"We have to move them now!"

She pulled out her communicator and sent a "Code White" message to her medical team back at the Crystal Tokyo hospital. Like the hospitals and medical centres of old she and her team had designed a series of colour codes or signals to let everyone around them know instantly exactly what to do when time was of the utmost essence. A 'code white' was the highest and more critical scenario and indicated that multiple patients were coming in at the same time and that they had minutes or seconds before each of them flat-lined. This meant that their vital signs would crash and they would die if nothing was done. She had never had to use this code before so she hoped that her staff would remember their medical training and have everything they needed ready upon their arrival. There wouldn't have any time to spare if they weren't fully prepared.

"Saturn, grab a piece of that awning over there. Rip it into a thick strip and bring it over here!"

Sailor Saturn jumped up from her kneeling position and hurried over to the damaged awning that Sailor Mercury had indicated. She did as she had been instructed and ripped a long thick strip from it and brought it back to the spot where Mercury was in the process of helping Venus get up to a sitting position. She saw her young friend's return out of the side of her eye. She didn't turn her head to look at her but gave the next set of instructions when she had knelt back down.

"Tie that around her leg at the spot just below the wound. Do not tie it too tight! Keep it just tight enough that it won't slip down her leg or fall off during transport."

Sailor Saturn nodded her head and quickly did what she had been asked. She tied the piece of sturdy fabric around Venus' leg just above her left knee. Upon seeing that task completed Sailor Mercury turned her head and attention back to Sailors Uranus and Mars who still over tending to Sailor Jupiter a short distance away. They were both helping her up to her feet but Mercury could tell that the sudden pressure change from sitting to standing was making the effects of her blood loss even worse. Jupiter was going to pass out long before they got to the hospital and she was going to need a lot of assistance to get her there in the time that they needed to stabilize her.

"Uranus, Mars, get her to the hospital now!"

"What about you? You and Saturn can't get move Venus all by yourself!"

"And what about him?"

Sailor Mercury followed Sailor Uranus' extended finger. She already knew exactly who she was referring too. Her eyes fell once again upon the still semi-conscious body of Sean who was still on his back and appeared to still be extremely slow in recovering from Sailor Mars' brutal attack. She understood the reason for Sailor Uranus' question. They had finally managed to get Carnage weak enough that they could get him before Neo-Queen Serenity so she could "re-curse" him. However they were now two Sailors down and needed everybody left to get them back to the hospital quickly or they would both die.

The problem before them now was that there was a very strong possibility that Carnage would physically recover before they could get back here to transport him to the Crystal Palace. They couldn't leave him unguarded while he was still extremely dangerous and any innocent person that died as a result of him would be on their 'hands'. Sailor Mercury's mind raced as she tried to figure out some way that they could both get their friends immediate medical attention and put an end to Carnage's threat to Crystal Tokyo.

"Mercury! The spearhead, it's crumbling away!"

Sailor Mercury really wished she could swear now. Up until now the spearhead had been acting like a plug or a cork in a bottle. With it now almost completely gone the wound would almost certainly open up again and the bleeding would resume. Judging from the spot where the organic weapon had impacted it more than likely had severed Venus' left femoral artery. If that turned out to be the case then she would bleed out and die in less than three minutes if they couldn't control the bleeding and steady her vital signs. She looked at Sailor Saturn and began to speak fast.

"Tie that fabric as tight as you can over the wound now!"

"Mercury! What about we supposed to do?"

"Go, get Jupiter to the hospital! We will be right behind you!"

"What about Carnage?"

"Go, I will worry about him!"

"We can't just leave you alone with him. If he wakes up,"

"Mars, shut up and get moving!"

The sudden and uncharacteristic response from Sailor Mercury caught everyone completely by surprise. It only served to emphasize the level of seriousness of the current situation to everyone. The longer they all stood around debating what on what to do the closer their friends were getting to death. Sailor Mars hated to admit it but Mercury was right and she absolutely loathed the position that they were in.

She shook her head and refocused her mind on what she needed to do. She put Jupiter's left arm over her neck and lowered her body so that she did not have to lift Jupiter's still injured left shoulder any higher than was necessary as Sailor Uranus did the same thing with her right arm. A second later they crisscrossed their 'free' arms behind Jupiter's thighs and lowered her body down onto them. They then lifted her up into a 'chair-like'-style carry and held her up using their augmented physical strength. Once she was securely in place they leapt upwards together to the closest rooftop and began their rapid sprint towards Crystal Tokyo Hospital.

"Ok, place her hand on your opposite shoulder. Take as much of her weight as you can but make sure you are still stable."

Sailor Saturn nodded her head and put her bladed staff down on the ground. She took Venus' arm and did as she had been instructed. She slowly stood up and felt the dead weight of her friend pressing down on her as she got her knee high white boots underneath her again. Sailor Mercury mirrored her actions on the opposite side. As they stood up she reached down and picked up her staff with her free hand to give them additional support. Despite the staff's assistance, the size difference between her and Sailor Venus was causing the injured blonde warrior to become lopsided as her body struggled to remain upright. In response Sailor Saturn put her long staffed Silence Glaive in between them to act like a makeshift support post. Once the thin metal rod of the pole was firmly planted into the ground and appeared to be serving its purpose Sailor Saturn tilted her head forward to look passed Sailor Venus's body towards Sailor Mercury. She waited quietly for a few seconds for her friend to give the next series of directions.

"Hey Sailor cuties! You better check the stove! I smell something burning, Ha!"

"Oh no."

Sailors Saturn, Venus and Mercury all turned their heads in unison. They were all afraid of what they were going to see and their bodies each felt a wave of numbness. When their eyes came to the spot where the voice had come from they all felt their bodies physically shiver and the blood in their veins suddenly became frozen.

Sean was standing upright and appeared like nothing a normal person would come to expect from a person who had just survived being almost burned alive. His skin was still charred and black in several places but Sailor Mercury could tell that his body was in the process of rapidly healing as those damaged patches were visibly getting smaller. He looked like he wasn't having any problem physically standing up despite the inhuman attack and the resulting near-death condition afterwards that he had been left in only minutes earlier. He was looking at them with a half-amused smirk and his top row of teeth looked impossibly white in the late afternoon sunlight. His blue eyes were bright and wild with the glint of insanity that continued to consume the body behind them.

As they continued to stare at him he reached across his body and scratched his right arm like he was picking at an insect bite. He then raised his hand and using the nail on the little finger on his left hand he scraped a small line along his left cheek. A black and red flow like blood ran from the scratches on his arm and face and quickly clung to his legs, arms and his torso. It flowed like a live animal over his skin. It covered his hands in razor-sharp claws and feet in pointed talons like an eagle. It moved upwards and covered his head by expanding and slanting his eyes into large white swirling pools. His mouth grew and sprouted numerous pointed razor-sharp teeth. His body frame itself also grew and became more muscular and wide. His red outer skin flowed and constantly formed and changed into knives, spears and other items of destruction along its surface. Red salvia drooled excessively from his mouth as it dripped off the black teeth.

"You can kill it and kill it but baby; it is just not going to die! The symbiote is in my very bloodstream and you know what that means, CARNAGE NEVER DIES!"

"Go. Gget her to the hospital,"

"What? No Mercury, you can't,"

"Just go Saturn! I will buy you the time you need to get away!"

"Mercury,"

"You two go! I will keep our enemy busy while you escape."

Sailor Mercury and Saturn couldn't resist the reflex of turning their heads to see the newest person to make the scene. Even before they saw her they recognized her voice and they both became relieved and concerned at the same time.

Sailor Neptune stood a few feet away from them in her traditional battle pose which consisted of her standing tall with her body facing to the side. One of her hands cupped her chin and her upper body was twisted towards the object of her attention. Sailor Mercury could tell from her posture that she was still favouring her right ribcage which was a sign that she still hadn't fully recovered from her injury earlier that day. It was clear that she was doing her best to not make that fact publicly known especially to the newly regenerated Carnage.

"Deep Submerge!"

Sailor Neptune lifted her hands up over her head. She collected the water energy around her and formed a bright blue energy sphere from the harvested hydro particles. She threw the radiant orb directly at Carnage who was just starting a forward charge at where Mercury and Saturn were holding Venus. Her energy blast sailed through the air at breakneck speed and squarely hit him. The attack's impact force sent him hurdling backwards and right through a wall of a small clothing store where he disappeared from view as he landed somewhere inside its interior. With the temporary reprieve from danger Sailor Neptune turned to formally address Sailor Mercury and Saturn.

"Go and help Venus! I will give you the time you need."

Sailor Mercury wanted to protest and stay with Neptune but she could tell from the fierce look on their saviour's face that any further discussion would only antagonize her. She simply nodded her head before leaping up with Sailor Saturn to the nearest rooftop just as Mars and Uranus had done a couple of minutes earlier and began their journey towards the hospital.

Down on the street Sailor Neptune watched them go until they were out of sight. She lowered her eyes and looked back towards the hole where Carnage had disappeared through. She began to hear some rustling and other sounds of movement coming from somewhere within and lowered her body into a perfectly balanced battle stance in anticipation for her enemy's imminent re-emergence. She didn't have to wait long as she first saw the ends of some jagged-tipped tendrils appear which were followed by the rest of the snarling and drooling beast that had claimed so many lives in such a short period of time.

"You spoiled my dramatic moment! I wasn't done with them yet!"

"You will find that I am more than match for you the second time around. You will not catch me by surprise this time!"

Carnage snorted in response to her bold statement. He then threw a dozen tendrils out towards her. Some of them were equipped with razor-sharp arrowheads while others had tear drop barb-heads that were designed to ensnare and bind her limbs to her sides as a means of immobilizing her. Rather than purely evading the incoming barrage of organic vines Sailor Neptune chose instead to charge forward and head directly at the source of the incoming onslaught.

Using her enhanced agility and natural grace she weaved around, ducked under and rolled forward to avoid the attacking pseudopods. Her speed never slowed down for a second during her rapid advance as she continued to close the distance between them. When she got within striking distance she drove her right knee upwards and aimed for Carnage's solar plexus. She was successful in that task as the blunt knob of her knee connected perfectly with the spongy muscle mass underneath his living alien skin. This physical strike caused him to tilt forward and let a "woof" escape his huge mouth as red spittle flew from it.

Sailor Neptune didn't hesitate for an instant. As soon as the heels of her white boots touched the ground from her knee drive she bent down into a squat position and pushed upwards with her muscular thighs. As she ascended up she drove her right fist up into the underside of Carnage's chin and executed a perfect uppercut punch. Her blow's upwards momentum caused his head to snap backwards and lift his body off his feet. He fell backwards with a sickening thud onto the hard cobblestone street as the back of his head bounced once against the ground. This stunned him for a second or two which was all Sailor Neptune needed.

She quickly took a position beside Carnage's head. Recalling her many years of gymnastics from when she was a small child she performed a standing forward tuck jump. As she felt her legs pass the half point of her spin she fully extended one of them until she felt her knee lock. Tensing the muscles in her thigh she brought the extended leg down across Carnage's throat with the back of her knee landing where his Adam's apple would be under the red alien skin. If Carnage had been a normal human being a hit like that would have surely crushed his larynx. In that case, the end result of that would have quite possibly caused him to suffocate to death as he wouldn't be able to get any oxygen to his lungs.

Sailor Neptune landed on her butt but the adrenaline coursing through her body made her not feel the impact of the hard ground at all. She quickly got back to her feet and drove one of her knee high white boots into his chest at the spot where his heart would be. With her augmented muscular strength, the force of the stomp jerked Carnage's head and shoulders upwards and off the ground for a second before falling back with a thump.

She lifted her foot to do it again when suddenly three strands of symbiotic material shot out from Carnage's chest and wrapped tightly around her ankle. Thus halted any downward movement she was about to make and put the rest of her body in a state of imbalance.

"Uh Uh Uh, that's enough of that!"

The strands holding her foot first merged together to form one single thick tendril before extending outwards and cause her to completely lose her balance off of her other foot. As Carnage got up into a standing position once again the tendril continued to extend out until Sailor Neptune was fully suspended in the air. To add another complication to her current situation Carnage rotated the tendril so that she was now upside down. This gave her the appearance that she had been caught in one of those rope traps that many survivalists had used when in the forest or jungle. The red organic vine that held her moved from its original sprouting spot in the center of his chest to the middle of his back. It looped up over his head like a scorpion's tail and held her body so that her head was level with his. Carnage then leaned in so that her face was very close to his sharp razor teeth.

Up close Carnage's breath smelled like a body left out to rot in the sun and it took everything inside Sailor Neptune to resist the urge to vomit. Her blue-green eyes were fixated on the constantly moving material that made up the sharp needle-like teeth. He moved his face even closer to hers until his upper row of teeth almost touched the end of her nose. In such close proximity, the smell of his rancid breath almost caused Neptune to pass out but she still somehow managed to hold on.

"I am going to relish chopping you to pieces. But fear not, I will make sure that Uranus gets your heart more or less intact! Ha Ha Ha!"

She watched as the skin on his shoulders, chest and arms abruptly became a furry of movement and acted noticeably different than how his living skin normally behaved. Knives, spears, barbed hooks and needles formed and then quickly melted back into the red and black alien tissue. He looked like a living breathing armory that was capable of producing a seemingly infinite number of weapons of various shapes and sizes to fulfill his vow to dismember her. She quickly analyzed her current situation for the tenth time as she attempted to figure out some way for her break free before it was too late.

She had no leverage in her body's current upside down position to break the tendril holding her up by the ankle. In addition to that was the reality that her body's response time was significantly slower in this position which meant that Carnage could easily avoid any clumsily thrown punch that she attempted to use in order to get him to drop her. She was also certain that she wouldn't be able to get off either of her 'Deep Submerge' or 'Submarine Reflection' attacks before he impaled or stab her with one of the weapons he could instantly create from his costume. His intimate knowledge the Sailor team from his many years of working alongside them as a team member would allow him to recognize the body movements of each of their attacks. He would kill her the second he saw her hands move. That was something she was absolutely positive about.

With her options now reduced to next to nothing she closed her eyes and thought of her lover and best friend, Sailor Uranus. She wanted her last thought on this planet to be about her and not the drooling murderous abomination that was about to eviscerate her.

"Chronos Cyclone!"

A large tornado appeared seemingly out of nowhere and quickly engulfed Carnage and Sailor Neptune. In no time at all, the gale force winds inside the vortex began to rip and tear at the red symbiotic skin of the monster in its very center. All around him dozens of pieces of debris were picked up by the incredibly strong wind undercurrents and revolved about the red monster and his current prisoner.

A medium sized piece of stone that been broken off during the initial battle with the Sailors sailed around the cylindrical funnel of rapidly moving air currents. The speed the chunk of rock was travelling at made it act like a small ballistic missile and more than capable of inflicting serious damage on whatever it managed to make contact with. Still suspended above him, the thick tendril that held Sailor Neptune flicked and whipped around as Carnage twisted and turned. He was looking for either what was causing this clearly unnatural cyclone or a means on how to escape it. It was at that point that the piece of rock hit the red and black strand at precisely the right moment and proceeded to rip through it as its forward momentum gave it the force of a canon blast. As a result Sailor Neptune was flung upwards in a high arch when the tendril snapped upwards as it broke apart and the hurricane-like winds propelled her body skyward and out of the top of the tall rotating funnel.

She tightened her body's muscles and used her natural agility and balance to roll her body in mid-air so that her feet were once again underneath her. She landed down in a crouched position with one knee and hand resting on the cobblestone street about ten feet away from the tornado. She ran her other hand's fingers through her shoulder-length aquamarine hair as she tried to fix the messy effect the tornado's wind had put on it. She smiled to no one in particular as she felt her saviour step up to a spot close to her on her left.

"As usually, your timing is impeccable!"

"Nice choice of words Neptune."

"I do have that talent, don't I?"

Sailor Pluto smiled at her friend's calm and confident demeanour in the wake of almost dying a minute before. She had been watching the day's events as they had been unfolding from her post at the Door of Time. She had remained neutral for as long as she could manage as she knew that events had to happen as they were meant too or the risk of damaging the peaceful prophecy of Crystal Tokyo with her interference could be astronomical. However after seeing her friends be merciless maimed and almost murdered several times by a seemingly unstoppable killing machine, it finally became more than she could handle. Her loyalty to her friends ultimately trumped her sense of duty when she saw Sailor Neptune being heartlessly played around with by the sadistic monster.

"So, this is the monster that is threatening our king and queen's safety?"

"Indeed he is but to tell you the truth I am not all that impressed!

The magically created cyclone began to quickly dissipate which ended the conversation between the two warriors as they both refocused their attention. A short distance in front of them, the red and black creature rapidly became visible as the dust and dirt kicked up by the tornado's winds quickly settled back down to the ground. It was clear to both of them that Sailor Pluto's unexpected arrival and last second rescue of Sailor Neptune had greatly enraged him.

The red and black colours of Carnage's symbiote flowed, dripped and swirled across his body which portrayed his emotions like an old coloured music lamp attached to a stereo. Right now some of that living costume began to move faster and turn a darker shade of black if that was possible. Across his body, the tentacles of organic tissue that sprang out from his body and then quickly retracted back into it did so much quicker and with noticeably more intensity. He lowered his body by bending his knees and raised his elbows up and back behind his body. This gave the appearance that he was about pounce or lunge forward like a feral jungle cat.

"Let's finish this Pluto!"

"I agree. Let's hit him hard and fast!"

"Is there any other way?"

Sailor Pluto couldn't help but smile again at her team mate's off the cuff remark. She gripped her garnet rod tightly in her hands and balanced her weight on the soles of her knee-high white boots. Sailor Neptune likewise brought her hands up so that they were level with her eyes like a champion prize fighter. Without saying another word they both rushed toward the homicidal monster. They were both confident that they would halt his reign of terror together. They had too as there was no one else left.

End of Chapter 9


	11. Crystal Palace Invaded!

Chapter 10

"Mars nearly killed Sean?"

The tone in Neo-Queen Serenity's voice was a mixture of surprise, sadness and most noticeably disappointment. She had sat and silently listened to Sailor Saturn's account of the events that had occurred after she and the other Sailors had left the throne room to engage Carnage as he terrorized the citizens of one of the northern districts of Crystal Tokyo. Her body's posture had continued to shift and became restless as she grew more and more uncomfortable upon hearing the gruesome fates of the young military officers first and then the near fatal injuries Sailors Venus and Jupiter had suffered before finally hearing about the unknown fate of Sailor Neptune as she had taken on Carnage all by herself to allow Sailor Saturn and Mercury to get Venus successfully to the hospital.

Sailor Saturn had chosen to return to the throne room once Sailor Venus had been successfully passed over to Sailor Mercury and her medical team. She had come back mainly to ensure that Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endyimon were protected in case Sailor Neptune failed in her valiant attempt to contain Carnage.

"Yes, my queen. If it wasn't for Jupiter's unexpected confession the threat of Carnage would have surely been eliminated permanently."

"I can't believe that Mars would even be capable of such an act."

Sailor Saturn decided against speaking out against her friend and Queen in defence of her other friend. She could sense that Neo-Queen Serenity was in an intense emotional spiral after just hearing that one of her closest friends almost killed someone who was a former friend of both of them for that matter, in cold blood. It was clear that she felt unbelievably betrayed by someone that she trusted completely and had fought beside dozens of times in the trenches of their many intense battles of the past years.

In addition to that was that in her current position as Queen of Crystal Tokyo she had formally and expressly forbidden any form of activity or tactic that would result in the death of another person. Sailor Mars' offensive action against Carnage could technically be considered an act of treason which was something that was simply unfathomable to anyone who personally knew her or any of the other members of the Sailor team.

"Where is Carnage now?"

King Endyimon leaned forward as he directly asked his question to Sailor Saturn. He too was deeply troubled by the actions of Sailor Mars but he was aware that now was not the time to worry about that. Not while Carnage was still out there and could continue to murder the innocent people that had entrusted their lives to the protection that his kingdom had promised to provide to them. He maintained his gentle grip on his wife's hand and he felt her grasp tighten as she awaited Sailor Saturn's response as well.

"I honestly do not know my king. Sailor Uranus and Mars left after passing Jupiter off to the medical personnel with the intent to return to the spot where Carnage had been. I have not seen or heard from them since that point."

"Your kingdom is falling apart all around you. Your own soldiers are defying you as your subjects continue to be slaughtered like pigs. You were foolish to think that you could change this world from what it really is."

"Silence. We will hear no more of your verbal garbage."

Sailor Saturn and Neo-Queen Serenity turned their heads to look at the person King Endyimon was addressing with the harsh tone of voice. Aldrich Reid was still chained to the shackles bolted to the floor of the throne room. He was standing up and leaning as far forward as the slack in his restraints would allow. He smiled evilly at the three of them as he proceeded to sit back down cross-legged on the white stone floor of the grand chamber. He had been listening to Sailor Saturn's debriefing and couldn't help showing his pleasure in what was going on. He was not intimidated in the slightest by King Endyimon's verbal command and the following intense stare from the monarch's brown eyes as they 'drilled' holes into him. He lowered his head and returned to his 'meditation' state as the effects of his verbal outburst continued to linger in the air of the throne room a little longer.

King Endyimon broke his stare down with Aldrich and leaned back on his throne. Neo-Queen Serenity did the same and tried to re-focus her thoughts on what their next course of action should be. It was clear to Sailor Saturn that they were both trying to make sense of everything that had happened thus far since this crisis had begun.

With Sailor Venus and Jupiter now in the hospital with severe injuries and Sailor Mercury solely devoted to watching over them in case either of their conditions suddenly worsened they were three Sailors down. Sailor Saturn had made the solemn vow to protect the king and queen and would thus remain at their side until Carnage's threat was over. She would go if they ordered her too but having her with them would allow them to maintain a third option in case things went bad. That left only Sailors Uranus, Mars and Neptune to carry out the tasks of tracking down, fighting and hopefully defeating Carnage. However Sailor Mars' recent actions and Sailor Uranus' verbal encouragement of them made their overall current situation even more perplexing.

The giant wooden doors of the throne room suddenly swung open and Sailor Uranus and Mars appeared as they entered the grand and open royal chamber. They each wore a grim expression on their face that was noticed by everyone present in the room. It was the look of someone that had failed in their assigned job and now feared the consequences of their unsuccessful endeavour by their superiors.

Sailor Mars gave a brief glance upwards at Neo-Queen Serenity but the stare that she received back only made her feel even worse inside. She had willingly made the choice to go against her queen's orders to not kill under any circumstances and it was clear that Neo-Queen Serenity was aware of what she had almost done. The unmistakable feeling of betrayal that was radiating off her like ocean waves hitting a sandy beach only made the tension inside the throne room all the more unbearable for Sailor Mars.

"Were you able to find Carnage, Sailor Mars?"

"We are sorry my king. We hurried back to the scene as fast as we could but we were too late. Carnage was no longer there and we were unable to find any sign or direction as to where he could have gone."

"Where's Neptune?"

Sailor Uranus' question cut through the tomb-like atmosphere of the royal chamber and the exchange between Sailor Mars and King Endyimon. It's sudden and unexpected abruptness was also enough to break through the emotional wall that Sailor Mars and Neo-Queen Serenity had become encased in. Sailor Saturn looked first up at King Endyimon before turning back to gaze at her tall blonde friend. She remained silent as she understood that he wanted to be the one to inform their Sailor Uranus about Sailor Neptune's unknown fate.

"She woke up and sensed Carnage's evil getting stronger. She left to assist you in the battle despite our reservations as to her combat readiness."

"You didn't stop her? She almost died by that monster's hand the first time." Sailor Mars exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter now. She is out there now and I am going to go and find her."

Sailor Uranus quickly turned around and began to head towards the main doors of the throne room. She did not attempt to make any eye contact with Sailor Mars or Saturn as she passed by them. Her attention was focused solely on finding Sailor Neptune and dealing with any obstacles that she encountered as she went about in completing that task. She got to the bottom of the first set of stairs and prepared herself to break into a sprint to get out of the Crystal Palace quickly so she could begin her search of the city.

"Sailor Uranus, stop. We need you to stay here and guard the King and myself."

Sailor Uranus stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned to look over her shoulder and up at Neo-Queen Serenity. Sailor Mars was the only one that was close enough to her to clearly see her facial expression. The look in her eyes was one of great frustration with more than a hint of anger. It un-nerved Sailor Mars more than she would be willing to admit to see her friend and team mate reacting like this. It would seem that the continued presence of Carnage's evil influence was causing every single one of them to act out of character and do things that were usually considered unthinkable for any of them.

"My queen, I cannot do that. I cannot stay here with the knowledge that she is out there facing that sadistic creature all by herself."

Sailor Uranus turned her head back around and began to quickly walk towards the doors of the royal chamber again. Behind her Neo-Queen Serenity tried and was failing to hide her look of shock at being openly defied by one of her kingdom's central defenders. A metallic jingle let everyone know that Aldrich had also heard Sailor Uranus's response and was taking full enjoyment in the apparent fracturing of the seemingly unbeatable Sailor team.

"Sailor Uranus. Your most important duty is to protect the King and Queen of Crystal Tokyo. If any harm comes to us this kingdom and the peace that it provides to the planet Earth will be lost forever. I don't like it at all either that she is out there but she made a choice. If Carnage somehow makes it to the Palace we will need you here to stop him."

Sailor Uranus stopped again in her attempt to leave the throne room and her head visibly dropped down slightly. Even though she did not verbally say it she knew the true meaning behind her queen's choice in words. Her mind recalled the time when she and Neo-Queen Serenity back when she had been Sailor Moon, had been hand-cuffed together by one of the Death Busters' daimons. Sailor Neptune had just been thrown over a cliff and disappeared into the churning waters of the nearby waterfall right after they had been banded together. Sailor Moon had wanted to go back and rescue Neptune while she had opted to flee to safety and preserve their primary mission to find the three sacred talismans. It was at that point that she revealed to Sailor Moon about the pact between her and Neptune to not endanger their chances of completing their assigned task by rescuing or worrying about the other. The irony of their current situation with the roles of Neo-Queen Serenity and her being reversed was not lost on her.

"Fine, I will stay but heaven help that abomination if Neptune falls by his hands."

The anger and almost hateful tone in Sailor Uranus' voice sent chills through everyone. Neo-Queen Serenity tightened her lips into a thin line and King Endyimon rolled his shoulders as he felt his body tense up at the sound of Uranus' statement. Sailor Mars and Saturn tried and failed to hide their surprise and sudden loss of comfortableness about where this situation was quickly heading.

Sailor Mars had almost killed Carnage a couple of hours earlier and she couldn't deny that she was relieved that she hadn't been successful as she wouldn't have been able to live with the resulting shame and guilt. However if Sailor Uranus did indeed act on her vow to destroy Carnage either in defence of the royal couple or in anger if he did kill Neptune, Sailor Mars was absolutely certain the resulting consequences of that single act would tear the Sailor team completely apart.

"I can smell the fear seeping out of all of you like the sweet aroma of ambrosia. You are afraid of what I have unleashed on your kingdom and what he is capable of. You have battled my servant twice now and each time he has nearly killed one or more of you. Surely you are not foolish enough to believe that you will all escape with your lives intact after the inevitable next encounter."

"Shut your mouth or I will make you eat your teeth."

"I do not fear you Uranus so please don't insult me with your meaningless threats. Your queen has forbidden any extreme acts of violence so even if you wanted too you could not hurt me the way I know you want too. However go ahead and prove me wrong. Strike a helpless prisoner in front of your queen and king. Show them the dark side that I can sense creeping up inside you. Sailor Mars almost committed murder today. Let's see if you can do better."

Sailor Uranus gritted her teeth and tightly clenched her fists at her sides as she internally fought the urge to punch Aldrich across his smug face. Her hands visibly shook as the mental struggle raged inside her. All the pain and misery that they had suffered had been a result of this man and she would love nothing more than to repay him back for some of that.

After several tense seconds she was successful in suppressing that impulse as it would not make her feel any better about Neptune and would only increase the almost unbearable level of tension that was hanging thick inside the throne room. She chose instead to turn her back on Aldrich as a demonstration that she was not going to listen to his mind games or let him get her under her skin any longer. She paused for a second or two to calm down before looking up at King Endyimon and Neo-Queen Serenity.

"He does have a point thou. How are we going to stop Carnage when the only thing that is effective against him is something that could also kill him?"

"If we could only separate Sean from the symbiote it might be easier to contain the alien and either re-curse it or destroy it completely."

"The symbiote lives inside Sean's blood right? That is what he said to Mercury and me after he recovered from Mars' attack. What about a blood transfusion? We could have Mercury take out the symbiote-infected blood and replace it with normal human blood. It would ultimately mean the end of Carnage but not the death of Sean."

"I really don't think that would work Saturn. We would have to make sure ALL of Sean's blood was out of his body or else any remaining symbiotic particles would just re-infect the new blood as its being put into Sean and completely defeat the entire purpose of the procedure. My medical knowledge is not as excessive as Mercury's but I am almost positive that Sean wouldn't survive the process of us draining his entire body's blood volume."

"Let's also not forget that the symbiote will not just let us separate it from its host. It will be fighting us with everything it's got. We would first need to think of a way to contain Carnage for longer than a few seconds. Only then can we worry about separating the alien from Sean. Any ideas on how we could do that Sailor Uranus?"

Sailor Uranus did not have a chance to respond as the sound of metal clanging loudly together suddenly appeared from somewhere just outside the throne room. The sounds of the metallic objects hitting each other were quickly joined with loud grunts and shrieks of men and women and the obvious sounds of their individual bodies hitting the ground or surrounding walls. The additional bangs and crashes of fragile objects such as vases and fine china being smashed apart and pieces of furniture being destroyed or thrown around gave everyone inside the royal chamber a very clear idea of what was going on the other side.

"He is here."

As if to emphasize Aldrich's simple and chilling announcement the tall wooden doors of the room's main entrance exploded inward as timber splinters, pieces of cast iron from the doors' hinges and other forms of debris flew through the air like small missiles. The unexpected and explosive disturbance caused the Sailors to shield their faces by either by turning their heads away from the doors or throwing their arms up in front of them in the common form of instinctive protection. Dust, dirt and small pebble debris were also kicked up as a result but not nearly enough to completely obscure the visual scene before them.

As the doors had been busted open two figures had instantly appeared through the exploding hole being made in the entrance way. It was clear that they were the cause of it. They both landed with a pair of painful thuds on the white tiled floor several feet in front of the nearest occupants of the throne room. They were barely conscious and their torn and blood-splattered clothing showed that they had been fighting for their very lives and were almost at the point of physical exhaustion. Everyone in the throne room recognized them and called out to both of them with concern and fear rampant in their voices.

"Sailor Neptune."

"Sailor Pluto."

Sailor Mars rushed forward and knelt down beside Sailor Pluto who the closest to her so that she could offer assistance to her friend. The dust cloud caused by their intense and unanticipated entrance quickly cleared and allowed the Sailors to clearly see the final result of their friends' bodies bursting through the solid wood doors. The hole in the entrance way was about seven feet tall and six feet wide. It was jagged and the broken timbers of the door panels were jagged and sharp like the blade of a sword. The size of the hole in the doors permitted the occupants of the grand chamber to see out into the room outside.

They all peered out into the vast open hallway on the other side as they did not move from their current spots. From each of their individual vantage points they could see several bodies of royal guards scattered among the battle damaged tables and tapestries that furnished the grand space just outside the throne room. They could also see a couple of badly maimed bodies of some of the Crystal Palace's servants which would explain the female screams that they had all heard. Blood could also be seen in several places as it dripped from the pieces of broken furniture and formed puddles on the ground or further stained the walls of the once elaborate hallway.

They all knew exactly who was responsible for those dead guards and servants as well as Neptune and Pluto's current physical conditions and they were not going to recklessly move outside the throne room without knowing exactly where he was first. They all remembered that Carnage was and probably remained a brilliant tactician. There was only one way out of the throne room which meant that they would be sitting ducks as they passed through the threshold if he was indeed waiting for them. The smart thing to do was wait him out and let him reveal himself to them.

They didn't have to wait long for that to happen as it turned out. A pair of red feet suddenly became visible as they appeared from somewhere above the hole in the twin wooden doors. A second later the rest of the red fiend's body dropped down and stood in full view of everyone. The Sailors noticed that Carnage had a tendril wrapped around the neck of a young male servant they all knew as Randolph. He had been a young man that was a few years older than them. His experience in his former life as a hotel room cleaner had allowed him to get a position as a member of the Crystal Palace's domestic help which was a rare occurrence for a male. Each of the Sailors had many past interactions with him and they all thought that he had been one of the nicest people they had ever met.

The way his head and arms hung limply either to the side or underneath him made it clear that he was dead as a result of his neck likely being snapped. The sight of yet another innocent person and someone that they had all personally seen and interacted with on a daily basis falling before this disgusting aberration of nature was the final straw for the Sailors. The threat of Carnage was going to end now regardless of how many of them he took down in the process.

"What cheap materials they make doors out of these days. The people who sell them should be flayed alive and fed to rats but that's only my opinion."

Not one of the Sailors uttered any sort of verbal response to his disturbing and sickening quip. They only continued their cold and focused stares at him and watched for even the slightest hint of movement from his symbiote. The intensity of their glowers could be compared to a high intensity laser beam and would have rivalled Sailor Venus' Crescent Beam attack in terms of raw power if she had been with them. Sailor Neptune and Pluto slowly picked themselves up from their spots on the floor and took quickly positions alongside their comrades.

An unnerving amused grin spread across Carnage's wide mouth as he saw the angry and icy demeanours of the young women standing before him and were completely fixated on him. He dropped the body of Randolph to the ground and took a small step forward. Almost instantly the Sailors dropped down into their individual battle stances and began to power up their attacks which was indicated by the air around them rippling and the surrounding temperature inside the throne room noticeably changing.

"My, aren't we inhospitable."

"Carnage. This is your final chance. Cease your attack and surrender yourself over to us."

"Ummm, you idiots. There is no surrender for me. I'm Carnage. That's who I am."

Before the Sailors or the royal couple could form a reply Carnage threw himself completely through the hole in the doorway as tendrils flung in all directions and symbiotic darts shot towards the group of young people standing in front of him. The Sailors all readied themselves as they all felt that this would indeed be the deciding final battle between the deadliest enemy they had ever faced and the last rays of hope for planet Earth.

End of Chapter 10


	12. The Final Battle

Chapter 11

"Everyone. Watch yourselves."

The Sailors jumped out to the sides to evade the incoming symbiotic shrapnel as it homed in on their positions. Sailor Uranus and the rest of the more experienced Outer Sailors were able to execute perfect front or side rolls that allowed them to get back into standing positions and ready to launch their own individual counter-attacks.

Sailor Mars chose to perform a cartwheel as her choice for an evasive maneuver. She came safely to a stop upon completing the motion with her long black continuing to move passed her body like a wave. When her raven-coloured locks finally settled down enough for her to see her surrounding environment her eyes expanded as she felt her body freeze with panic. Some of the red organic projectiles were heading directly for the King and Queen and there were moving too fast for her to nail them with her 'Flame Sniper' fire arrows. All she could do was scream out a warning to her fellow friends.

"The King and Queen."

Sailor Pluto instantly whirled around and looked up towards where she had last seen their king and queen. She threw herself forward and used all of her enhanced Sailor speed to move faster than the sharp-pointed pellets that she was desperately trying to intercept. As she neared the wall of the raised structure that separated the floor area from where the royal thrones were situated she planted the tip of her garnet rod firmly into the floor. With assistance from her enhanced Sailor agility she pole-vaulted herself up into the air and managed to land directly in front of the royal couple. Without wasting a second she raised her staff high above her head.

"Garnet Ball."

In a flash of light a semi-transparent sphere appeared from the tip of the staff and rapidly spread out to encase Sailor Pluto, King Endyimon and Neo-Queen Serenity inside its protective shell. Unlucky for them though, the energy that made up the orb didn't have enough time to fully solidify before the symbiotic bullets made contact with it. Carnage's manner of launching them caused the timing of t each of the pellets to be slightly off. This caused a staggered formation so that they would not hit their target at the same time. Sailor Pluto's garnet shield was able to repel and vaporize the last three darts but the lead one managed to make it through. It sailed through the air but luckily passed through the small space that existed between the heads of the king and queen. It continued on until it became embedded in the back wall behind the thrones. Without turning around to look for herself and not wanting to take her eyes off her opponent Sailor Pluto asked a single question to the people that she had just barely been able to protect.

"Are you ok my leaders?"

"We are fine Pluto … thanks to you."

Sailor Pluto let a small smile appear on her face which was followed by a small sigh of relief that escaped her lips as she continued to concentrate on maintaining her garnet shield. She knew that she had been extremely lucky in her rescue but from what she had observed of Carnage's attack style he was likely to shoot more darts or something equally worse in a wild and unpredictable pattern. She had to make sure that the king and queen were constantly protected by her shield or they might be hit by one of those stray projectile weapons. If that were to happen everything they were fighting for would be all for nought and the promise of Crystal Tokyo's golden reign would be dead.

She shook her head to clear her head of her thoughts. Now was not the time to think of 'what ifs'. She had to keep her eyes and mind completely focused on her task or the shield's strength may start to waver. However even in her concentrated mental state she still felt the impact of someone landing beside her. Without turning her head she looked out of the corner of her eye to see the newest arrival in her peripheral vision. A flash of purple let her know that her friend and the leader of the Outer Sailors Sailor Saturn was the one that had just joined her. She returned her concentration back to maintaining the strength of her shield and almost missed the comment that came from her young team mate.

"Pluto. Drop your shield and go and help the others."

"I can't Saturn. We have to keep the king and queen safe from Carnage's attacks."

"I will use my shield to keep them secure. I don't have an offensive attack that will allow me to help them without putting others at risk. They need you out there… now go."

Sailor Pluto pursed her lips into a tight thin line. She turned her head and looked down towards the battle that was raging in front of them and knew that Sailor Saturn was right. Carnage was holding his own against Uranus, Neptune and Mars but they needed help to push the odds more in their favour. She mentally recalled what Sailor Neptune had told her during the few times they had been able to catch their breath as they had been fighting Carnage and his inevitable invasion of the Crystal Palace.

Sailor Neptune had told her that fire was the only definite weakness Carnage had that they could exploit to their advantage. That meant that keeping Sailor Mars safe had to be their second priority after the protecting the king and queen. If she became severely injured or killed then their chances of stopping Carnage would be reduced to almost nothing. Sailor Pluto turned back around to look at Sailor Saturn and nodded her head to let her know that she agreed with her young leader and was waiting for her to throw up her own shield so that Carnage did not even have a fraction of a second to get a lucky shot in.

"Silence Wall."

Sailor Saturn lifted her Silence Glaive up over her head as she loudly spoke her words. Purple and white lightning crackled from the tips of the blades and cascaded down around her and the royal couple who were standing a couple feet behind her. After a few seconds the protective barrier became fully operational and was strong enough to protect everyone from every conceivable direction.

Sailor Pluto waited anxiously until she was fully satisfied that Sailor Saturn's shield was completely solidified before she broke her concentration and finally dropped her own shield. In seemingly no time at all, the yellow-ish and white energy of her Garnet Ball barrier flashed once before disappearing from sight. She side-stepped to her right to allow Sailor Saturn to get into a better position on the platform before jumping down to the floor to join their friends in battle.

"Hee-yaa."

Sailor Pluto spun her garnet rod in a downward arch as she descended down to the ground. Just as she had intended, the end of her staff connected with Carnage just below his raised arm and struck the side of his ribcage. The force of the blow caused his body to tilt in the opposite direction and lose its stability which made him vulnerable for a few seconds. When her feet touched the ground she lowered her body and thrusted her staff upwards to hit Carnage under his chin. Her blow lifted him upwards and away from her. As his body fell to the ground Sailor Pluto tightly gripped her staff with both of her hands and tensed the muscles of her body.

"Dead Scream."

She raised her garnet rod into the air and a small whirlwind spun into being all around her. With a mental command, the winds' power coalesced into the Garnet Orb at the end of her staff to create a glowing purple ball of concentrated energy. When the violet-coloured sphere was finished forming, she spun around once on the balls of her feet and held the rod straight out in front of her. She fired the energy orb at Carnage upon the completion of her spin. Moving at incredible speed, the blast soared through the open space between them and struck him as he was picking himself up from the ground. In response, the force of the impact sent him hurdling backwards into the exterior wall of the chamber directly behind him.

The violent act of his body hitting the polished and dense crystalline surface of the wall did not knock him unconscious but did succeed in stunning him for a few seconds. He fell down to ground with a loud thud and dropped to his hands and knees. He shook his head a few times to refocus his thoughts and ease the throbbing in his brain. Suddenly a malevolent sounding scream cut through the air and the temporary break in the battle. Carnage lifted his head and looked towards the voice's owner Aldrich Reid.

He was standing up and had his body twisted so that he could look at Carnage due to his limited movement because of his restraints. At his feet were the bodies of the two royal guards that had been assigned to him. One of them had a symbiotic arrow protruding from his neck a result of Carnage's barrage at the beginning of the battle. His partner had no obvious signs of trauma but Sailor Mercury would later conclude that he probably had his neck snapped when he got too close to Aldrich during the chaos of the battle. This had allowed the evil mystic to get his hands around his throat even with the limited range his shackles allowed and kill the unsuspecting guard. Right now thou he was staring directly at Carnage with a look of fierce anger and disappointment at his supposed ultimate weapon.

"Get up. You must kill the King and Queen or they will curse you again. If that happens it would mean no more destruction, no more chaos and no more killing."

"I do not need help from the peanut gallery. I have nearly killed these Sailors before all by myself and this time I intend to finish them off for sure."

"Release me from my bonds and I will help you in that task."

"Why should I share my action?"

"Do not forget that I was the one that broke the curse that was cast upon you. My assistance will ensure that the Silver Moon Crystal can never be used against you again."

"You do raise a good point."

A pair of large razor-sharp knives formed on Carnage's left arm and spun off at the chains that held Aldrich. Surprisingly, the rotating organic blades were able to cut through the thick metal of the restraints with little effort and the severed ends of them clanked down to the ground with a loud metallic noise. Aldrich shook his wrists to loosen up the tired and strained muscles in his arms caused by his imprisonment. All that was left now were the wrist cuffs with a small piece of each of the chains still attached to them. This gave him another hazard for the Sailors to watch out for when they engaged him in battle.

"So partner… shall we make mince-meat out of these snot-nosed brats?"

Aldrich did not answer Carnage's question. He chose instead to focus on the small group of young women that were taking positions around them. His clenched his hands together tightly and they instantly began to glow with orange and red energy as he channelled the demonic powers inside him into them. His brown eyes became solid black as if thick ink was injected into them from the other side.

Off to his left tendrils of various lengths slithered and wiggled around Carnage's body and waited for him to shoot them out at a target. His red and black costume swirled and flowed across his body frame as it formed into all sorts of different shades and patterns. His symbiotic skin seemed to reflect his current thought process as he observed his opponents and tried to decide on what was the most pleasurable way to kill them.

The tension inside the throne room became unbelievably thick as each group waited on baited breath for the other side to make the first move. With this new development, the Sailors were being extra cautious because they now had two dangerous opponents to contend with. It was still unknown as what the full extent of Aldrich`s powers were and this made him both unpredictable and extremely hazardous. With their attention now divided between the two of them it only increased the likelihood that any one of them could be caught by surprise by an attack from either of them. They were in very big trouble and they all knew it.

"You want trouble guys? You're looking at it. In the name of the planet Jupiter you'll regret the day you were born when I stop you. I will show no mercy."

Everyone turned to look at the unexpected newcomer to the battle. As they all cast their eyes towards the hole in the large wooden doors of the throne room they came upon the sight of Sailor Jupiter standing with her arms crossed firmly over her chest. Her eyes were narrowed into tiny slits and her bright green eyes were dark with a fierce intensity. Her forearms were still heavily bandaged and the scratches and bruises that were still visible had not fully healed. Her arm was still in its sling which took a little of her threatening appearance away.

Crouching in front of her was another person that none of the Sailors had expected to see. Sailor Mercury also had her arms up and was ready to counter any attack that came at her. She chose to remain silent and let her body language speak for her.

"Jupiter what are you doing here? You can't fight. You are preg…"

Sailor Mars managed to catch herself before she finished her sentence but she still felt a cold chill race up her spine. She silently swore and mentally kicked herself for being so careless with her reaction to Sailor Jupiter's unexpected arrival. When she had revealed to all of them about her pregnancy Carnage had been in the middle of her fire attack. She had hoped and prayed that the waves of pain that had been bombarding his body as a result had caused him to miss that shocking announcement. Up until now it had looked like she had been correct in that assumption. However due to her knee-jerk reaction she had just betrayed her friend and quite possibly put a target on her back.

She and the other Sailors turned back around to look at Carnage. Some of them were feverishly praying that the sudden shock of the news that he was going to be a father might somehow touch the small piece of their friend that they still believed remained inside the murderous monster. As they stared at him he remained motionless for a second or two as if he was frozen in place. All across his body, the living costume's movements seemed to slow down as well which gave the Sailors hope that he would cease his attack and possibly even surrender to them. His head dropped down and hid his eyes and mouth from their various lines of sight. Everyone including Aldrich remained motionless as they all anxiously waited to see how Carnage would react to the unexpected news.

After a few more seconds of silence Carnage lifted his head. His large tear-shaped white eyes shifted and expanded to even wider proportions as his mouth opened wide. His facial expressions showed surprise and shock first before his eyes contracted and returned to their normal size as the information fully registered with him. His mouth quickly twisted into a gleeful grin and his clawed fingers opened and closed rapidly as a demonstration of his growing excitement.

"Baby? Oh. I just _love_ babies."

The Sailors couldn't help but feel their spirits drop as the chillingly innuendos of his statement flashed through their heads. It became clear that the stakes of this battle were now raised even higher. Not only did they have to protect the king and queen and Sailor Mars from Carnage's evil but now the unborn child of Sailor Jupiter as well. Instinctively, the Outer Sailors took the risk of exchanging glances among themselves so they could silently and quickly form a battle strategy to deal with both of their opponents. They all quickly made eye contact with each other and gave a quick nod to signal that each of them understood what they needed to do.

Sailor Uranus pulled her Space Sword from her waist scabbard. Sailor Neptune held her Deep Aqua Mirror at the ready while Sailor Pluto tightened her grip again around the staff of her garnet rod. They would need the extra firepower that their sacred treasures would provide in order to put the odds back in their favour. Even with the additions of Sailor Mercury and Jupiter and their combat readiness still in question they needed to use everything they had at their disposal. A few more tense seconds ticked by as the stand-off continued until Sailor Uranus' patience finally ran out.

"Space Sword Blaster."

She charged forward towards Carnage and lifted her sword as she closed the distance between them. As her long legs propelled her frontward she kept her sword's blade angled slightly downward. When she began to get closer to her target the metal of her sword began to glow as the internal energy contained inside it swell in preparation for the moment to unleash it. When she got to within five feet of the red skinned monster she swung the sword in a perfect horizontal slash that released a wave of yellow energy behind the blade's plane of movement like the tail of comet.

Sailors Mars and Mercury moved in to assist her at the first sign of her charge while the rest of the team shifted to engage Aldrich. Carnage raised his arm up in front of his body and formed a broad shield to block Sailor Uranus' incoming strike. The razor-sharp blade of the sacred sword struck the diamond-hard alien skin that made up the shield and caused an abrupt disruption in her forward momentum. This caused Sailor Uranus to temporarily lose her balance for a second or two.

The energy blast from the sword hit the shield a second later but had no visible effect other than causing Carnage to be pushed back a few steps from its impact force. He recovered much quicker than Sailor Uranus and instantly took advantage of his opponent's temporary instability to send forth an enlarged fist underneath his shield and right up into Sailor Uranus' solar plexus. Upon contact, the rock-like punch caused her to loudly gasp as the air was violently pushed out of her lungs. She abruptly dropped down to her knees. She dug the tip of her sword into the white tiled floor underneath her to act a support and to prevent her from falling completely to the ground. She wrapped her left arm around her body in a protective "hug" as she choked and coughed while trying to regain her normal breathing rhythm. Carnage stood over her as he relished the moment by smiling down at her with his black needle-like teeth. His living alien skin swirled over his body and continued to form various small instruments of death that abruptly appeared before quickly melting back into the main body in a continuous loop.

"Oh no you don't. Shine Aqua Illusion."

"Mars Flame Sniper."

Sailor Mercury spun around like a ballerina on the balls of her feet and placed her hands on the front of her shoulders. As she spun her body droplets of water appeared and swirled all around her. She mentally focused these hydro particles toward her hands which she quickly raised above her head and collected them into a single large mass of blue liquid. When she finished her stationary spinning she sent the water blob toward Carnage. Meanwhile at the same time, Sailor Mars summoned a fiery bow and arrow using her control of the heated air molecules around her. She took careful aim by calling on her master archery skills acquired from her many years as a shrine maiden and shot the fiery arrow towards Carnage at the exact moment Sailor Mercury threw her jet of icy water.

Sailor Mercury's attack hit Carnage first. It struck his legs and lower abdomen with the super chilled water freezing him on contact. It instantly encased his legs in a block of solid ice which prevented him from being able to physically move out of the way. As an added bonus, the impact of the attack also caused him to drop his shield slightly in response to being temporarily frozen in place. This hole in his defence allowed Sailor Mars' fire arrow to find its target unobstructed which turned out to be his left shoulder. Her flaming projectile pierced through the symbiotic skin with ease and made it all the way to the human body underneath it. As a defensive response, the alien tissue around the arrow's entry point began to retreat as it tried to escape the pain of the intense heat the projectile was continuing to radiate outwards.

"Ah!"

Carnage staggered back a few steps as his 'shield' arm collapsed and reformed back to its normal humanoid shape. He placed it over the injured shoulder in a reaction that was an instinctive reflex firmly engrained inside the genes of his human half. He turned his head first to look at wound before snapping it back around to look at the two people responsible for it. His white eyes flared up with an increased level of intensity and the red symbiotic skin of his costume began to flow faster than the Sailors had ever seen. It was moving so rapidly that almost all traces of its dominant red colour were gone as it swirled and rippled like the waves of a raging ocean.

Suddenly and without any warning the ice shell that was still holding him in place exploded as dozens of razor-sharp spikes and tendrils erupted outwards from his legs. Chunks of ice sailed towards them and rained down in every direction which temporarily distracted Sailors Mercury, Mars and Uranus from their enemy. When they turned back to look at Carnage after instinctively shielding their faces from the flying debris they couldn't help but feel the blood in their veins run cold. They knew that they had just severely enraged him and was going to now be coming at them with everything that he had. Sure enough he threw himself at them. As he closed the distance between them he screamed three words with a vocal tone that made their skins crawl.

"Rip you apart."

Across the room Sailors Pluto, Neptune and Jupiter were trading blows with Aldrich. His vast array of demonic powers was keeping the Sailors constantly on the defensive as they struggled to avoid being caught by one of his lethal mystical attacks. Even with the knowledge that he was still human and therefore was not designed to deal with the physical stresses that using such un-natural powers would entail, he was showing no signs of fatigue which was more than a little disconcerting for them. That reality troubled them because the longer the battle went on the more vulnerable they would become to being caught by one of his deadly attacks. In all of their past experiences they had never faced an opponent with a potentially extensive arsenal of different offensive tactics at their disposal. Every time he attacked they had to quickly adapt their evasive maneuvers to whatever form the attack took. This made them incapable as of yet to launch any sort of counterattack of their own.

Right now, Aldrich was firing pink coloured blasts of magically energy from his hands. He was alternating his arms back and forth as he released the powerful mystic bolts in a rapid fire sequence. At the current rate of which he was shooting at them made them have to be in constant motion as the blasts impacted and damaged the floor and walls around them. This added another element of danger for them as they had to watch out for the falling debris or shrapnel that each projectile generated when it made contact with something. After a few minutes of this Aldrich abruptly stopped and raised his hands above his head.

"I summon the Rains of Ragadoor."

A few feet above each of the Sailors an orange and black cloud instantly appeared. A second after that, orange energy droplets began to pour heavily down onto each of them. Whatever made up the substance that each of the rain particles contained was highly acidic. It instantly began to burn the material of their uniforms as well as their bare skin and hair upon contact. What made the situation even worse was that the clouds followed them as they tried desperately to get out from underneath them. This was meant to ensure that they would never be able to escape and suffer the maximum amount of damage. That left them with only one chance to save themselves or else their bodies would suffer too much trauma and go into shock. They quickly grouped closely together with Sailor Pluto in the centre.

"Garnet Ball."

In an instant the semi-transparent sphere appeared once again from the tip of her staff and rapidly spread out to encase Sailor Pluto, Neptune and Jupiter inside its protective shell. Their desperate prayers were answered when the barrier solidified and stopped the harmful 'rain' from passing through its defensive shell. They all breathed a collective sigh of relief as the pain from the burns they had received began to slowly subside. However their sense of ease was short-lived as they quickly realized that this was only a temporary solution. Outside the shield, the magical "acid" rain was still continuing to pour, which meant that they had to keep it up. This prevented Sailor Pluto from counter-attacking but also meant that Sailor Jupiter or Neptune couldn't launch any attack from within the barrier without first dropping the wall of the sphere first. This was due to the nature of Sailor Pluto's shield as it not only prevented attacks from going in but also stopped anything from going out. This put them in a stalemate in that if either of them chose to venture outside the energy barrier to launch some sort of counter-offensive they would be instantly bombarded by the supernatural downpour once again. Their enemy Aldrich was well aware of this predicament and couldn't help himself from letting them know it.

"You have lost Sailors. Your shield will keep you safe from my mystic rain for now but you can't stay in there forever. Very soon my partner will be done with your team mates and shortly after that your king and queen will fall to the ground battered, broken and bloody right before your eyes. I have won. Accept what is right in front of you and surrender to my mercy."

"Not on your life you monster."

Aldrich and the three Sailors are looked to where the strong feminine voice had come from. They all wore expressions of surprise on each of their faces as their eyes found the announcement's owner. Standing in the hole in the door panels was Sailor Venus. She had one hand on the side of the hole and was clearly using it to support her body. Her posture was tilted to the side and let everyone know that she was far from being fully healed from the near fatal injury to her leg that she had suffered several hours earlier. Her arms and face had several bandages on them which marked the various cuts and slashes that she had received in the last battle with Carnage.

As she stepped into the room it became abundantly clear that she was not in any shape to participate in this epic battle. Her 'love-me chain' was wrapped tightly around her injured and heavily bandaged leg. From the looks of it, the energy chain was acting like a split to give her leg the strength and stability it was lacking due to the muscle damage caused by the symbiotic spear that Carnage had struck her with. Her gait appeared to be very laboured and exhausting as she struggled to keep herself from limping or falling to the ground. She did not want to let either of their opponents know just how worse for wear she really was in her current physical state. She took a few more steps inside the room before planting her feet firmly against the heavily damaged floor of the throne room. She quickly raised her hands and ignored the pain her body felt as her tired and stiff muscles protested against the movement. She had to move quickly if she was to succeed in her intention to attack Aldrich before he had enough time to properly counter-attack her.

"Rolling Heart Vibration."

Sailor Venus formed a heart made of concentrated energy in the open space between her raised hands. When it was fully formed she threw it towards Aldrich. It moved through air in a rolling corkscrew motion as it drew closer to its intended target. It moved at the speed of sound and covered the distance between them in less than a couple of seconds before striking Aldrich square in the chest.

The force of the blow sent him sailing backwards against the opposite wall across the room from where Carnage was battling the other Sailors. Aldrich hit the stone wall hard with a sickening 'thud' and fell to the ground hard. He wasn't knocked unconscious by the impact but his body had still taken a serious physical hit. He slowly lifted his head to look up at Sailor Venus and the other warriors he had just been battling. A bead of nervous sweat ran down his forehead as he watched Sailor Pluto drop the shield protecting her and the other two young women. When he had been struck by the heart-shaped projectile it had broken the mental concentration needed to continuously maintain the mystic rain. With all four Sailors now back in the battle he needed time to recover as he couldn't take them all on at the same time in his present condition. That was something that wasn't going to happen without help.

"Carnage. Help me."

Across the room Carnage finished up the devastating attack he was just executed. He had managed to ensnare Sailor Mars by the ankles as she had attempted a flying martial arts kick. As she had been coming towards him he had extended his arms out in front of him and sent a pair of tendrils out at her. They had wrapped tightly around her feet and brought them together which had effectively halted her attack. As soon as her feet were firmly side by side the two tendrils merged together into one thick band. He finished up his counter-attack by swinging her around two times like an Olympic hammer thrower. When he felt he had achieved the proper level of kinetic energy he swung her around one final time before releasing her and sending her body hurdling into Sailors Uranus and Mercury. All three of them crashed hard to the ground in a heap and were slow to get back up.

Carnage turned to look over his shoulder at where Aldrich was situated upon hearing the warlock's desperate plea. He leaped across the room and landed a few feet beside him. He made no immediate motion to assist his cohort in getting back to his feet and chose instead to stare down at him. To anybody else Carnage's body language seemed to suggest that he was either greatly irritated or even disappointed at Aldrich for not holding his own against the Sailors like he was. In response to the silent stare of his homicidal partner Aldrich looked up at him. His facial expression indicated a clear element of surprise as he registered the hesitation and lack of immediate assistance from Carnage. A few more seconds of dead silence ticked by as both individuals continued to stare at each other and not saying a word or making any moves. Taking advantage of the lull, the Sailors watched from their various positions around the room as they took the brief break in battle to catch their breath and re-group. Their attention snapped back into focus at the sound of Carnage's voice.

"Give me your hands."

Aldrich hesitated at first but slowly started to extend his arms as he reached out towards where Carnage was standing. His body was visibly trembling as it was still recovering from the hard impact of Sailor Venus' energy attack and then being slammed against the wall afterwards. As his arms slowly drew closer to Carnage he waited anxiously for him to grasp them and pull him up to a standing position.

"No. I wanted just your hands."

With an impossibly quick action razor-like knives formed on the back of each of Carnage's forearms and slashed outwards to slice Aldrich's hands off at the wrists. He managed to catch the two severed hands as they fell towards the ground and held them up in front of the utterly shocked face of Aldrich.

"Now that's what I was asking for. Much better don't you think?"

For a long moment Aldrich stared dumbfoundedly at the spurting stumps at the end of his arms before clutching them firmly against his chest. He slumped forward to the floor with his forehead pressing against the cold hard stone tiles. Blood continued to visibly stain his black clothing and quickly formed an expanding dark red circle on the ground underneath him.

"Wave goodbye, Aldrich. It's time we went our separate ways."

"Carnage! Your barbarism has no place in our kingdom.

Carnage turned back around to face the Sailors. They were all standing again and were ready to re-engage him in combat. He casually tossed the severed hands to his left and right while whistling as he did so. The sickening sight of the cut appendages being playfully thrown away like a child's toy paired with the sound of Carnage's joyful tooting was enough to make several of the Sailors' stomachs churn with nausea.

Carnage used their momentary distraction to send out dozens of tendrils out at them. He sent them out in all directions to make it impossible for the Sailors to avoid them all. Each of the organic pseudopods found their intended targets and were effective in slowing down their desperate attempts to avoid the symbiotic snares. This reduction in speed and hindrance of their enhanced agility allowed other strands to wrap themselves tightly around them. In a matter of only a few seconds all seven Sailors were firmly and securely wrapped up in the red alien vines. Without any warning, the stalks of the tendrils became rigid to keep the Sailors' feet off the ground and prevent them from gaining any sort of leverage that they could attempt to use to break free. They were completely at his mercy and the overwhelming feeling of fear began to quickly overtake them.

Their internal terror intensified as they saw Carnage smile up at them. His grin was beyond unsettling as it showed that he knew just as they did, that they were firmly under his control. As they stared helplessly down at their captor they noticed the muscles in his arms tense up and his feet firmly pressing flat against the floor. As they continued to watch he moved his arms outward which moved them outwards as well as the stiff branches of alien tissue followed the movements of the arms. When his arms extended to a position directly to the left and right of his body he paused for a second before swinging them forward and effectively slamming his arms together like a pair of cymbals. This quick and devastatingly bone-jarring movement caused all the Sailors to crash into each other as the tendrils holding them collided together. Their bodies slammed against one another as heads bounced off each other and knees and elbows struck other bony joints which sent numerous shockwaves of pain throughout their owner's body. The yelps and groans of guttural pain were like music to the homicidal monster. He gleefully relished the sounds for a little longer before he dropped them all to the floor with loud thud. Their collective impact of them falling several feet to the ground served as a final exclamation point to the wickedly violent attack.

The Sailors lay scattered around the area in front of him in varying degrees of consciousness. Some of them were starting to bruise and swell up as the effects of the body collisions began to take effect. Carnage bent his legs and sprang into action. He leapt towards where Sailor Jupiter was laid out and landed on top of her as she was recovering on her back. His hands tightly gripped her wrists as his body pressed down onto her torso which pinned her firmly to the ground. Even if she had been at a full health she would have had a very difficult time overpowering him and getting him off of her in this position. He leaned forward and lowered his face to a spot very close to hers. Red drool dripped out of the corners of his mouth before proceeding to fall down onto her neck and chest. She closed her eyes to protect them from the disgusting liquid. Emitting from his mouth, the foul stench of his breath made Sailor Jupiter almost vomit inside her tightly clenched mouth. It smelled like a combination of decaying flesh, rotten eggs and rancid seafood.

"Finally some alone time with the mother to be."

"Stop Carnage. You can't kill her."

Carnage turned his head to look over at Sailor Mercury who was still down on her forearms and stomach. She had one arm extended out towards him to emphasize her desperate plea to spare her friend. It was beyond amusing to him that the once mighty Sailor team had been reduced to such pathetic and ultimately ridiculous tactics. He smiled at her with insane glee as he locked his white eyes with blue ones.

"Who said anything about killing her? I only want to see my child. I just have to rip out her rib cage, lungs, and spleen to get at my baby. You're all welcome to what's left after that."

Carnage's chilling and completely tasteless comment awoke something deep inside Sailor Jupiter. It was the deep rooted instinct that had been inside all living beings since the beginning of organic life itself. It was the maternal desire to protect any offspring from any and all threats using any means necessary. It was the genetic trait in all 'mothers' that allowed them to summon supernatural strength or cause them to fight to the death to ensure the safety of their child or children.

Upon hearing Carnage verbally threaten the baby growing inside her Sailor Jupiter was instantly filled with a renewed and seemingly infinite amount of strength and energy. She opened her eyes to stare up at the snarling face of the monster on top of her with a look of fierce determination. He was still looking back at Sailor Mercury and his focus remained on her desperate plea to stop his impending attack on her friend underneath him.

With her wrists still pinned to the ground by Carnage Sailor Jupiter opened her hands to extend and spread her fingers outwards as far as they could go. Her hands began to rapidly glow with green, purple and white energy until it visibly crackled with miniature lightning bolts between the fingers. It was at that point that she flexed her arm muscles and called upon all the physical power that her tired body could muster as she strained against the superior strength of the much stronger Carnage. His divided attention paired with the rage and the overwhelming desire to defend her child allowed her to get just enough slack in her arms to wrestle her wrists free of his grip and place her hands flat against the red and black slithering skin on Carnage's chest.

"Jupiter Poison Oak Shock."

The resulting chorus of screams echoed off the high ceiling and bounced off the surrounding walls of the throne room. Sparks began to shoot everywhere and the smell of burning rubber mixed with rotten fish quickly engulfed the air. Tendrils whipped around and around as they slashed at Sailor Jupiter's arms and legs to desperately attempt to break her physical connection with Carnage. However Sailor Jupiter's determination and resolve knew no bounds and she continued to hold her hands firmly against him as the fireworks lit up the royal chamber and the red and black slimy costume writhed around in intense pain.

Finally and mercifully after a minute or two the symbiote around Sean sputtered and popped like bacon grease in a hot iron skillet before disappearing in a small explosion of black inky smoke that drifted up towards the ceiling before vanishing from view as it neared the top. With one final ear-piercing shriek Sean slumped down on top of Sailor Jupiter with no trace of the symbiote left on him.

Sailor Jupiter pulled her hands away from his skin which ended the bioelectrical bombardment. She pushed the barely conscious body of her husband off of her and rolled him onto his back. He was still wearing the severely charred clothing that was leftover from Sailor Mars' ultimate attack earlier. As the rest of the Sailors continued to personally recover and take in what they had just witnessed Sailor Mercury pushed herself up to her feet and rushed over to check Sean for any signs of life.

She looked for his pulse by first checking his wrist and then his neck. She was silent for a few seconds as she concentrated her full attention and ignored the intense aches and pains of her own body as she listened and felt for the unmistakeable throbbing of his cardiovascular system. After what seemed like an eternity she finally lifted her head and turned to address everyone in the room.

"He is alive but not by much. The symbiote must have taken the brunt of Jupiter's attack and retreated back inside him."

The Sailors all breathed a sigh of relief. However they knew that they still had to act quickly. Given enough time the symbiote would be back and they were sure that Carnage would not give them another chance to catch him off-guard like this again. Sailor Uranus turned to look up at where Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endyimon were still standing. At the sight of her friend turning to look up at them Sailor Saturn dropped her barrier as she was satisfied that it was safe to do so for the moment. She remained at the ready just in case Carnage reappeared again and she had too quickly throw her shield up again.

"Serenity. Use the crystal to re-curse him now."

Neo-Queen Serenity nodded her head and summoned the Silver Moon Crystal to her from its usual resting place deep within the Crystal Palace. It appeared in between her outstretched hands with its radiant glow lighting up the throne room with an intense and brilliant glare. It floated in the air as it seemingly awaited her orders. She raised her hands above her head with the crystal following her movements to remain perfectly in between them. She looked down at the spot where Sean lay and focused all her concentration on the task at hand.

"Silver Moon Purifying Restoration."

Rays of white light shot out from the crystal and the intense glare from the crystal grew to blinding proportions. All of the Sailors covered their eyes to protect them from the immense power and light radiating out from the crystal. Moans and guttural grunts could be heard coming from the area where Sean had last been seen. It was similar to the sounds that the rainbow crystal carriers or the phages created by Sailor Galaxia had made when Sailor Moon healed or restored them to their normal human selves. This caused each of them to be filled with a sense of renewed hope that they had not felt since this whole nightmare had begun.

After about a minute the Silver Moon Crystal finished its task and the light quickly dimmed down. A second or two after that, the crystal then disappeared as it returned to its resting place in the Chamber of Prayer. One by one the Sailors slowly lifted their heads and turned to see the results of Neo-Queen Serenity's act.

Sean was still on his back but as they watched him he slowly began to sit up. His body movements were very laboured and it was amazing to them that he was even able to lift his body up off the ground. His head was tilted downward so they couldn't clearly see his face. When he finally did look up he looked directly up at Sailor Jupiter who was still kneeling beside him as she had not moved away during Neo-Queen Serenity's spell. His blue eyes locked with her green ones and a powerful stare down between them ensued.

When the Silver Moon Crystal had finished carrying out Neo-Queen Serenity's command Sailor Jupiter had remained poised and on full alert in case the healing spell had failed to re-curse the symbiote. When Sean had sat up following the completion of the enchantment she maintained her focus so that she could move at a second's notice if he attempted to launch a surprise attack like he had done in the recent past. However when he looked up at her and the look in his eyes was different than the one she had been seeing in them lately. As he continued to look up at her she came to realize that the glint in his eyes was one of love and sadness and not the madness and hatred that had consumed them since that terrifying moment in the open field. She let her body slowly soften and relax a little as she began to allow herself to gradually let her guard down.

The final straw was when she saw a tear run down his cheek. That completely convinced her that the crystal's magic had indeed worked. Their friend her husband was truly back. She wrapped her arms around him and began to cry profusely as she once again embraced the man she loved with all her heart. In response to her actions he wrapped his arms around her and they both squeezed each other tightly in a hug of deep love.

The other Sailors watched on with the hope that their friend was correct in her assumption but still not completely convinced themselves. As the minutes ticked away and no sign or signal appeared to suggest otherwise they too rushed over to join their friend in welcoming back their team mate and dear friend. They all knelt down beside Sailor Jupiter and Sean and took turns hugging him as they cried almost as hard as Sailor Jupiter.

"Nooo. You may have … defeated Carnage … but I am still here. I will … never stop in my … goal of bringing this kingdom … down."

The Sailors spun around to look at the owner of the ominous threat. Aldrich was looking up at them from his kneeling position on the ground. His bloodied arm stumps were obscured by the long sleeves of his black robe and the hood had fallen completely over his head which covered his face. From their positions they could see that the ends of his sleeves and parts of his cloak were soaked with blood and had the wrinkled appearance of cloth saturated with water.

From their current positions and distance from him he looked like one of those "Jawa" aliens from the Star Wars movies. Even though they couldn't see his face it was hard to not imagine that it was wearing an expression of utter defiance and intense malice. He didn't physically look like a threat anymore but the Sailors knew that he still was. He was still in possession of a wide array of demonic abilities from an unknown number of powerful demons and if given the chance he would unleash every single one of them upon the people of Crystal Tokyo.

Sailor Venus was the first one to react as she ignored the pain in her leg and sprang into action. She felt the rush of adrenaline coast through her veins which numbed the intense discomfort in her leg as she propelled herself towards her target. She kept her eyes fixated on Aldrich so she was ready to use her enhanced agility to evade our attack he threw at her to halt her rapid advance. Luckily he appeared to be still too weak from the battle and Carnage's savage betrayal to counter her approach.

"No Aldrich. Your threat ends now."

As she closed the distance between her and him she closed both of her hands into tight fists. Her clenched hands began to glow with a yellow energy that was different than any of her other previous attacks. She never took her eyes off Aldrich as she approached as the energy chain around her injured leg allowed her to move at a fast pace but still much slower than if she had been at full health. When she got within striking distance she drew both her hands back.

"Venus Love Pang Punch."

She threw both of her fists forward and landed both of them into Aldrich's chest. In response, the collected energy in her fists passed from them into his chest and acted like a battering ram. This added to the force of her punch which sent him hurdling back against the wall. As expected, the power of his body's impact caused the back of his head to bounce off the wall and render him unconscious. As his body slumped down against the wall the Sailors breathed another collective sigh of relief as they finally realized that they had now truly won the battle. Crystal Tokyo was safe again and more importantly they had their dear friend back.

End of Chapter 11…


	13. Future Repercussions

Chapter 12

3 weeks later…

Sailor Jupiter walked down the dark and winding staircase that descended deep below the earth's surface and underneath the Crystal Palace. She really didn't like using this set of stairs or going to the unpleasant place that they led too. She would much rather be outside and lying on a grassy hillside with the warm sunshine on her face and her eyes closed as she quietly daydreamed. However she had been given an important task by her queen and she fully intended to complete it despite her personal misgivings and uneasiness about it.

The staircase was craved into the hard bedrock of the earth by some unknown and ancient civilization and seemed to go on forever as it twisted around and around in a downward spiral. It had been discovered purely by accident during their initial exploration and occupancy of the palace in the early days of Crystal Tokyo. Sailor Mercury had theorized that the staircase and the area it descended down to could be the remnants of the long forgotten 1st Earth Kingdom that had existed over 10,000 years ago and been magically sealed up since it's collapse until the Silver Moon Crystal created the Crystal Palace structure over it.

Every single time she had to go down these stairs she honestly felt like she was going to end up in the very center of the planet. She had timed herself once and it had taken her over twenty-five minutes to reach the bottom of the stairs even at a steady pace. She had no desire to count each step but she wouldn't at all be surprised if the total number was close to 1800 or more.

After what seemed like an eternity she finally reached the end as her white boots touched the rough grey-coloured stone that made up the bottom of the staircase. She paused once both feet were side by side again as she found herself standing in front of a large light grey coloured stone door with a pair of royal guards standing on each side of it. The door was about ten feet in front of her and the alcove she and the guards were situated in was about eleven feet wide and ten feet in length. She took a breath in as she steadied her shoulders before addressing the guards.

"I would like to see him."

"Sorry ma'am. He has requested no visitors."

Sailor Jupiter looked directly at the guard that had spoken. The guard in turn stared back her with a blank expression on his face. The cold and sterile atmosphere of the sub-basement of the Crystal Palace was making the verbal exchange between them seem even more uncomfortable than it needed to be.

The black granite rock that made up the walls, floor and ceiling was paired with the damp and musty smell hanging thick in the air. This combination made the entire area seem completely devoid of the love and peaceful atmosphere that the vast kingdom above it radiated outwards in spades. The dank conditions did however suit the true purpose of this area since this was where any and all captured criminals or other declared enemies of Crystal Tokyo were kept until Neo-Queen Serenity could purify them with the Silver Moon Crystal.

"I have been sent here by Neo-Queen Serenity on official business and need to speak with him at once."

The guard was silent for a second before nodding his head once and turning to look over at the other guard. After they exchanged a single nod of the head between each other the first guard opened the heavy stone door and stepped inside before closing it behind him with a thud that echoed off the rock walls around them. Sailor Jupiter crossed her arms tightly over her chest and tilted her body to one side as she waited impatiently for the guard to return. She didn't bother to attempt to converse with the other guard as she knew that he would more than likely not respond back.

The guard appeared to be in his mid-to-late thirties and looked to be in above average physical condition. He maintained his rigid posture at his post and continued to look at the section of wall in front of him which was beside the entrance to the stairs Sailor Jupiter had just descended from. He didn't attempt to make any eye contact with her even when she looked directly at him. It made her think of the old English guards with the large furry black hats that never showed any emotion or physically moved even when prodded or encouraged by an outside force.

It almost felt like the guard was angry at her and she honestly couldn't blame him if that was indeed the case after everything that had recently happened. She let a small sigh pass through her lips as she thought about what the future would entail and the amount of work that was going to be needed to rebuild everything that had been damaged or destroyed. It would certainly be a long time before the city of Crystal Tokyo returned to the quiet sense of normalcy that it had once enjoyed before Aldrich had arrived.

About thirty seconds later she finally heard the tell-tale sounds of the metallic latch of the stone door's lock opening up again. A few seconds after that the door spun open and the first guard re-appeared. He stepped out into the small foyer and left the door slightly ajar behind him. He looked over at Sailor Jupiter and his expression mirrored his partner's except that it appeared to be a little more intense with a more slightly clearer hint of anger.

It unsettled her more than a little to see such a reaction from a person but just like his partner she could understand why and where those particular feelings were coming from. Neither of the guards said any words to her but she could tell by the barely open door that she was free to go inside and carry out her business.

She walked passed by the guards and griped the handle of the heavy stone door. She pushed it open and proceeded inwards. Once she was firmly inside the new area one of the guards turned around and pulled the door closed behind her which sealed her inside the detention area.

The cell block was designed in a simple "L" shape by going straight before jutting off to the right. There were a total of eighteen cells in the area with six cells down each side of the main straight-away and another six down the side hallway. From where she was standing at the area's main entrance she could see several of the security cameras that were placed around the ward to monitor any prisoners that were held here as they awaited purification from Neo-Queen Serenity.

There were also numerous simple single-bulb overhead lights that were fastened close to the stone ceiling as they ran the full lengths of each of the hallways. Several of those lights would flicker occasionally. This gave the cellblock an eerie and foreboding atmosphere which again seemed to suit its purpose. The cells themselves were simple in their design and had not been updated from the previous conception of the 21st century versions. They measured six feet by eight feet and were equipped with a single plank of hard wood to serve as a bed that was bolted to the wall and a simple stainless steel toilet and sink.

The area was deathly quiet as there were no other prisoners being held here other than the person she had come to see. This silence only served to increase the overall spookiness of the place.

She looked down the length of the hallway to the very end. She saw a soft flickering of light coming from somewhere around the corner and from one of the side cells more than likely. She pursued her lips into a thin tight line and steadied her shoulders. She took a deep breath in and let it out with anxious huff before beginning to walk down the passageway. She let a single thought pass through her mind as she walked past the empty cells.

'I can't stop now. I have come this far and I can't let Serenity down.'

She strolled down the hallway with her boots making the only sounds as they tapped loudly against the cold dark coloured granite floor. She rounded the corner without breaking her pace and stopped in her tracks for a second as she took in what was in front of her now.

There was a row of three cells on either side of her. Her eyes were drawn to the middle cell on her left. The bars of the cell were illuminated with a constantly soft glow and frequent flickers of blue-electric energy. The unnatural fiery electricity not only energized the metal bars of the cell but also the space in between them as well which was indicated by the semi-transparent light blue-ish hue that was surrounding the cell. A soft 'humming' sound could be heard in the quiet atmosphere of the cellblock. The power for the energy fire was being supplied by a medium-sized generator that was placed at the end of the hallway just slightly passed the last of the cells. Her enhanced hearing ability which was part of her Sailor power repertoire was telling her that was the source of the consistent hum that she was hearing.

Another thing that caught her attention was another machine that looked like a laser cannon hanging from the ceiling directly across from the electrified cell. From her current position at the top of the small hallway she could see a small red light that was continuously blinking on the side of it. Other than that there were no other visible signs that it was turned on or what its actual purpose was. It wasn't producing any audio sounds that she could hear other than the hum of the generator that was powering the electric field around the cell. When she broke her hesitation and walked up to the middle cell to look at the occupant that the "cannon" was aiming at she could see that he was twitching and squirming as he lay on the wooden plank that served as his bed. Her eyes instantly lit up as she quickly realized what was actually going on. The cannon-like device was actually emitting a low-frequency sound wave that could not be heard by human ears but had to be positively ear-shattering for the target it was actually meant for.

"You shouldn't have come."

Sailor Jupiter hesitated for a second before responding. The cell's inhabitant had not turned around to face her and there was no mirror or reflective surface that he could have used to see her from his current line of sight. He was lying on his side with his face facing the wall. His head was at the far end of the wooden plank while his feet were close to the electrified bars. She had not uttered a single word or made a sound other than her footsteps so it caught her by surprise that he had unexcitingly acknowledged her like that. However what was even more noticeable was the tone she had heard in his voice as he had spoken. It had suggested that he knew exactly who had come to see him.

"How did you?"

"Your rose oil perfume was always my favourite scent."

As he spoke he rolled on to his back and lifted his head to face her. His expression as he looked up at her only added to the confirmation that he wasn't the least bit surprised to see her there. He then sat up and placed his feet flat on the cold black granite floor before twisting his body at the waist so that he was facing the front of the cell. Sean looked at her through the bluish hue between the metal bars with eyes that were filled with deep sadness and guilt. A small smile peaked out in the corners of his mouth as he took in the beautiful brunette that had come to visit him but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. There was a short period of silence between them as neither of them knew what to say next and all they could do was stare at each other. Sailor Jupiter finally broke the silence by deciding to get right to the point of her coming down to this dungeon-like place.

"Neo-Queen Serenity has sent me to escort you to the throne room."

Sean was silent for a minute as he replayed her statement in his head a few times. He turned and lowered his head so that he was looking at the rocky ground underneath him. This was the third time that Neo-Queen Serenity had sent someone down here to persuade him to come up and stand before her. It made sense to him that she had sent his wife this time after Sailors Mercury and Mars had failed since she would have more influence over him than them. After a short silence he turned his head and looked back up at her.

"I appreciate the offer but I must, decline."

"Why? You have been down here for three weeks all by yourself and by your own choice. Why do you insist on staying in this hole?"

"Mako-chan , I have done things that defy words. I have murdered fathers, sons, mothers and daughters and done so with a smile on my face. I have forever stained my name and all the good I have done with my recent actions. Everyone knows what I am now and will never truly feel safe around me again."

"That's wasn't you. That was Aldrich's doing. He corrupted you and turned you evil and against us. I am sure that the people of Crystal Tokyo will forgive you in time if you show them that they can put their faith and safety back in your hands again."

"When you entered the detention area just now you must have seen how the guards looked at you when you told them that you were here to see me. The subtle but clear hints of anger poking through their usual stoic demeanour as their minds processed your request. They know I am responsible for the brutal deaths of their friends and family whether it was my fault or not. It was my claws and skin that ended up being tainted with their loved ones' blood. They and everyone else in the kingdom will never be able to fully trust me again. For what I have done I deserve to be locked down here and forgotten about for the rest of my life."

"No. Neo-Queen Serenity cured you. The symbiote's evil nature has been suppressed and you have recovered from the psychotic break you suffered when you lost control of it. You are back to their old self so you are no longer a threat to them or us."

"Mako-chan, I will always be a threat. If Aldrich was able to break the curse, who is to say that a future enemy won't be able to do it again? If the symbiote was ever to get unleashed again it will remember what happened and make everyone in this kingdom pay for it in blood."

"We won't let that happen."

"I am sorry but I can't let you or any of our friends take that chance. If the curse is broken and it gets out again the things it will do to you and the others will be worse than death itself. It is safer for everyone if I just remain here and be forgotten."

Sailor Jupiter gritted her teeth and tightly clenched her fists at her sides. She turned her head and looked to her right as she frustratingly tried to think of something she could use to get through to him. An idea quickly formed in her head. She turned around and hurried over to the generator supplying the electric power to the bars. She knelt down and after a quick glance of the device found the power switch for it. She flicked it off and turned around to look back at Sean's cell. After a few seconds the soft blue light and low 'hum' gradually dimmed before finally disappearing completely. She then stood back up and walked up to where the sound cannon was suspended.

She stood directly underneath it as it hung over her head by another foot and a half. The ceilings of the cellblock were ten feet from the floor and the sound cannon hung about eight feet from the ground. Even at her current height of 5'10, it was still just out of reach from her. She reared up onto the balls of her feet and reached her arms up over her head. She stretched as far as her fingers would extend and managed to tap the 'power' button with the very tip of her middle finger. She rested back down on her heels before turning back around again to watch as Sean abruptly stopped his constant twitching and restlessness. This let her know that the sound barrage from the cannon had stopped and the pain he had been in had now ceased.

"What are you doing?"

Sailor Jupiter did not answer his question. She instead walked up and placed her palm on the computer screen located to the left of the cell door. The screen chirped to life as a thick green horizontal line appeared at the top of the screen. The line scrolled down to the bottom of the screen before moving back up again to return to its original starting position. The light grey screen then flashed a few times which was when she removed her hand from it. A few seconds after that, a picture of her appeared on the screen with the words 'Access Granted' underneath it. The lock on the door to Sean's cell clicked and the bars slide open to the right with a loud metallic rattle.

The palm scanner had been the idea of Sailor Mercury. It was also clear that she had been responsible for the electric fire generator and sound cannon. Only the Sailors had the authority to open the cells in the detention area as the Royal guards' duties were to only monitor the area in the Sailors' absence and ensure that any prisoners kept there were treated with the utmost degree of humane respect and dignity.

When the door was fully open she stepped inside the cell. Sean looked up at her from his sitting position on the bed with a look of surprise as if he couldn't believe what she had just done. A few seconds of silence passed between them before he stood up to address her more directly.

"Why did you do that?"

"To show you this."

Sailor Jupiter reached behind her back and produced a small piece of paper from the spot between her white tunic and large pink bow. She held it out in front of her as an indication that she wanted him to take it. He looked down at the paper in her outstretched hand and stared at it with a confused look on his face. It was a small and square shaped with no visible writing on it. He slowly reached out and took it. He looked up at her as it passed between them before looking back down at the paper. He turned it over and recognized what it actually was. It was an ultrasound photo that had yesterday's date. He snapped his head up and looked up at her as complete shock firmly etched itself across his face.

"That's our child. Do you want to raise them in our home or have them visit you down here in this place?"

Sean was silent as he did not respond to her question. He instead continued to switch his gaze between the photo and Sailor Jupiter. She could tell that he was mentally confused as he wrestled with what he believed was the right to do and his internal desire to see his child grow up. His senses of responsibility and honour were two of the major things she loved dearly about him. However in this situation those two aspects were now at war with each other. He blamed himself completely for his recent actions and now felt he had to hone up to them and be punished. His overwhelming feeling that he had disgraced his honour as a warrior would not allow him to simply move on with his life even with the blessing of Neo-Queen Serenity to do so. That is why he had chosen to come down here as his act of contrition and live out his days alone in payment for the lives lost at his hands.

The other half of him the young man that he had once been so many years ago was demanding that he go out and raise his child with her. He had come from a broken home with his father dying when he was young and his mother turning to drugs and alcohol as a result. The loss of his younger sister was the final straw that caused him to set out on his own into the world and eventually lead him to becoming the formidable warrior that he now was. That was the part of him that wanted to redeem the mistakes of the past and raise his future child in a home that was stable and strong and to give them the life that he never received.

He turned around sharply and put his back to her while still holding the photograph. He took a few steps toward the back of the cell with his head still looking down at the ultrasound image. Sailor Jupiter's couldn't help it as her mouth fell open slightly as her mind became instantly flooded with ideas as to what this gesture meant. Inside her heart she felt like she was actually finally getting through to him and all he needed was just one more push from her.

"You were a hero once and you can be again. True heroism is about facing impossible odds no matter the situation and overcoming them."

Sean lifted his head but did not turn around to look back at her. He didn't say anything or make any other physical movements in response to her statement either. Sailor Jupiter did not hesitate for long as she kept pressing her point. She was determined to prove to the man she loved with all of her heart that he was not destined to waste away in a prison cell far beneath the Earth's surface for the rest of his life.

Before she could resume her speech the red flowing skin suddenly appeared and covered Sean from head to toe. It was then that he turned around to face her and she found herself once again looking at the white eyed and wide black toothed mouth of Carnage. She had not been prepared nor expected to face this monster again so after the events of the final battle in the throne room. The unsettling sight of seeing this monstrous side of her husband caused her to fly into panic mode.

She resisted the compulsion to step back as she did not want to show the fear that was rapidly engulfing her. She had turned off the electric fire and sound cannon that had been keeping the symbiote dormant within Sean's body and the cell door was still wide open behind her. Her mind flashed with the terrifying realization that she may have just given Carnage the opportunity he had been waiting for to escape and resume his mission to bring absolute chaos to Crystal Tokyo. Without making it too obvious she flicked her green eyes around her field of vision and quickly took in her surrounding environment. She was looking for anything that she could use to her advantage in the event that he attacked her or tried to make a break for it.

After a few tense seconds the monstrous face peeled back and retreated down to the base of his neck which exposed his human head. The look in his blue eyes was not one of hatred or malice as she had seen recently but still retained the love and sadness she had just seen in his eyes before the transformation.

"It's still inside me Mako-chan. The symbiote lives within me and it's not something that I can ever escape from."

Sean looked down at his hands and paid special attention to the black-tipped claws at the end of each of his red fingers. He then tilted his head to the left and right as he looked at the swirling alien skin flowing like water over his arms and chest. He watched as it rippled and reacted to his very thoughts to form random objects such as spoons, the sleeve of a shirt and shapes like square blocks or triangular pyramids.

"There is so much blood on my hands. Hicks, Winters, all of those people in that convenience store. I don't know if I can ever wash away those stains. You have no idea what he feels like to do the things I have done and to care."

"If you remain down here you won't. If you come with me and help protect this kingdom with our friends once again you can slowly regain the people's trust and in the process, redeem yourself. You can become the hero you once were and the man I fell in love with. Our daughter will need her father—"

Sailor Jupiter closed her mouth and cut her sentence short. The building intensity of the conversation thus far had caused her to lose control of it. She had been doing that a lot as of late with the reveal of her pregnancy and now the gender of their baby. She mentally cursed to herself that she wished she could go back in time and re-do those events under much more appropriate circumstances. Sean's eyes snapped open as her words fully registered within him.

"Daughter?"

He looked back down at the photograph and studied each and every line of the ultrasound like he was cramming for a school's final examination. A look of total shock etched across his face again as he his eyes flicked all around the image. Sailor Jupiter decided to use the situation she had created to her advantage.

"Yes, our daughter. She is going to do great things in this world but she will need her father to help guide her towards them."

Sean was silent as he thought about everything that had been said up to that point. Sailor Jupiter remained quiet as well. She stood tall and her eyes remained completely fixated on him. She had said everything that she had wanted too and had nothing left. It was now up to him and what he ultimately decided to do. She hoped with everything inside her that he would come with her and rejoin the Sailor team. However she began to prepare herself for what she would do if he decided to remain here in his self-imposed imprisonment. She wasn't sure if their marriage could survive if he chose to hide in this prison cell for the rest of his life.

"Ok , I will come with you."

It took a few seconds for Sailor Jupiter to fully register what he had just said. He had spoken in such a quiet whisper that even in the dead calm of the cellblock she had almost missed it. She nearly jumped for joy as a huge smile spread across her face when his words finally sunk in with her. She rushed forward and threw her arms tightly around his neck. In turn he put his arms around her and lifted her off the ground as he embraced her back. As he held her up in his arms the red symbiotic skin that still covered his body retreated and completely disappeared back inside his bloodstream through the pores in his skin. She pulled her head back and they shared a deep passionate kiss the first one for them since the grassy field.

When they ended their embrace he gently put her back down but still kept her in his arms. They lost each other in the other's respective eyes as they felt the love between them being rekindled and the stronger bond they now shared in their roles as future parents. He finally let her go and she took his left hand in both of hers before tightening her grip around his hand. She continued to smile at him as she walked backwards and gently pulled him out of the cell. She then took a position beside him and held his left hand with her right one. They continued to hold hands as they walked down the two hallways of the detention block, pass the two guards at its entrance and all the way up the winding staircase that led to the sparkling city of Crystal Tokyo. However this time Sailor Jupiter didn't seem to notice the unappealing atmosphere of the stairway as her mind remained overjoyed with being successful in her task given to her by Neo-Queen Serenity and more importantly having her husband by her side again.

A few hours later Sean and Sailor Jupiter walked through the brand new large white panelled doors of the throne room. Their arms were intertwined at the elbows in the traditional formal gesture for couples walking together. He had been informed when he and Sailor Jupiter had emerged from the dank dungeon of the Crystal Palace that Neo-Queen Serenity was holding some sort of assembly that she had personally requested his presence at. When he heard that he had been unsure of what he should wear since he did not know the specific context as to the overall purpose of the assembly or his role if any, he was to play in it. To cover the majority of the scenarios he formed a simple red and black formal dinner suit and jacket using the camouflage powers of his symbiote before he entered the grand royal chamber.

Sean felt a huge pang of guilt as he passed over the main entrance's threshold and into the room. When his alien partner had been unleashed he had become completely powerless to control it since it was inside every cell of his body. The evil influence of the living costume had also managed to tap into the remaining particles of Queen Metalia's corruption and infection that had been passed down over the millennia through the genes of his ancestors. The end result of those two malevolent forces being brought together had caused him to be driven insane and make the symbiote even more powerful since both halves of their collective body were now acting as one single entity.

Even now with the curse once again placed upon it he still remembered clearly everything that he had done while under the symbiote's control. He successfully resisted the urge to physically shudder as the memories of throwing Sailor Pluto and Neptune through the original wooden doors and then carrying Randolph's lifeless body through the resulting hole shortly afterwards.

He and Sailor Jupiter both stopped moving for a few seconds once they were completely inside the room as they waited for the doors to close behind them. The throne room was filled with people and at first glance looked to number around three hundred or more. They were arranged in rows on either side of the center aisle that was lined with a bright red carpet. It reminded him of the way the Catholic and Christian churches of old had been traditionally set up. With the sounds of the large doors opening and then abruptly closing which signalled their arrival everyone turned at the same time to look back at them. He felt another intense rush of paralyzing shame and remorse as he felt everyone's eyes fall solely upon him. He lowered his head slightly too purposely avoid any eye contact with anyone in the crowd.

After a second or two he lifted his head and took the opportunity to look around at the grand chamber. In the three weeks since he had last been in this particular room a number of changes had occurred. He first noticed that all of the defacement and damage from the final battle had been repaired. The huge dents and blast damage from Aldrich's magical bolts and 'acid' rain had been craved away by some of the stone masonries and former tile installers living in Crystal Tokyo. They had taken the opportunity to not only merely repair what had been damaged but to create new and beautiful and intricate carvings in those areas. As he looked at those images his symbiote recognized them as symbols, historical and mythological figures and artistic drawings that had once decorated the Royal Castle of the Moon Kingdom during the Silver Millennium.

It also appeared that the people who had been in charge of the repairs had also taken the chance to add some new features to the throne room. There were ten new massive stone pillars with five on each side of the chamber that were spaced equally apart and ran the entire length of the room. Each of the columns had a single strand of large sized pearls that spiraled upwards from their base to the cathedral ceiling high above. Long vertical grooves were craved into the white marble stone of the pillars. These imprints ran almost the entire length of the columns ending about a foot from the top and base. The red carpet that ran down the central aisle from the entrance to the first staircase was thin but looked to be immaculately clean as the shine of the red fabric seemed to catch the bright light being emitted from the numerous lightning fixtures. At the end of the aisle a royal purple carpet led up to the first platform and then continued on up the second flight of stairs that lead up to the thrones of King Endyimon and Neo-Queen Serenity.

Sailor Jupiter gently nudged him and broke his fixation on the new sights and features of the grand chamber. He looked over at her and they shared a small smile between them. He followed her lead as they began to walk down the carpet towards where the king and queen as well as the rest of the Sailors were all standing atop of the platforms. As they slowly walked down the central aisle his eyes flashed back and forth as he took in some of the faces of the people in the crowd around them. He recognized several people that he knew were community leaders such as trustees or youth program organizers. There were others that he personally knew played other important roles in the daily running of the kingdom such as contractors or large retail store owners.

As he continued to scan the crowds around him he saw in almost all of their faces, the unmistakeable looks of distrust, fear, anger and apathy directed solely at him. He couldn't fault them at all for looking at him like they were. They had entrusted their safety to him and he had destroyed that by losing control of his powers and bringing the one thing that they had hoped to escape from by living in Crystal Tokyo chaos. Despite his wife's unflinching optimism he severely doubted that he would ever regain the full trust and respect of the city's people. He fought the urge to turn around and leave choosing to remain by his wife's side and face up to his punishment like a man and not flee like a spineless coward. That had after all been the point of locking himself in the detention centre to pay for the consequences of his actions.

He had no doubt now that he was about to face some sort of discipline from the king and queen. That would certainly explain why the crowd of various important community leaders and other representatives of the kingdom's population were all present for this assembly. Having them bare witness to the final resolution of the crisis that have enveloped Crystal Tokyo would satisfy the citizens' desire to see proper justice served and re-strengthen their overall trust in the king and queen. The entire scene before him reminded him of some of the key scenes in a couple of movies that he remembered seeing while growing up, Star Wars: A New Hope and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Beside him Sailor Jupiter felt her husband's various body reactions to the intense scrutinizing glares of the people in the crowds around them. She had noticed the looks from the various individuals as well and she was very proud of him for bravely facing the people of Crystal Tokyo. It marked the beginning of the process for him to find redemption in all of their eyes and more importantly in himself. She squeezed his arm a little tighter to let him know that she was still right there beside him and fully supporting him.

They reached the end of the aisle and stood still for a second. Sailor Jupiter let go of his arm and let it hang freely at his side. He kept his head tilted downward so he could not make any eye contact with the royal couple standing high above him. He felt that he had not yet earned the right to look at them directly since he had attempted to kill them the last time he was in their presence. He chose instead to drop down to one knee and crossed his right arm in front of him. He put his right fist in front of his left shoulder in a symbolic and historical gesture of pledging his heart to someone of higher authority. He maintained his downward gaze and looked at the first step of the staircase in front of him that led up to the platform where the other members of the Sailor team were all situated.

Sailor Jupiter looked down at her husband from the corner of her eye. She was completely surprised at his gesture but was still able to maintain her calm composure and rigid posture. She did not want to alarm the crowd or show any sign that his movement was unexpected just in case the people in the audience misinterpreted it as to mean something negative.

As she continued to glance down at him from the corner of her eye as he knelt down and quietly awaited a response from the royal couple, she gradually came to understand what he was really doing. To the casual observer he looked like he was merely showing respect to King Endyimon and Neo-Queen Serenity. However she knew that he was actually surrendering himself completely to them and showing that he would freely accept whatever sentence or punishment they chose to assign him. His gesture was also meant to show the crowd of people behind him that he was no longer a threat to them as he willingly knelt before their self-appointed leaders. High above him King Endyimon and Neo-Queen Serenity briefly glanced at each other and shared a small smile before turning back to address the crowd of people.

"Rise, my friend, and take your place with your fellow guardians."

Sean lifted his head and for the first time since his arrival he looked up and made eye contact with the royal couple. It had been King Endyimon that had ordered him to stand up and take a spot with the other Sailors atop the first platform. He didn't smile at them as he stood up since he wasn't sure if it was the appropriate time for such an action. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was still some form of disciplinary declaration involving him yet to come. If he smiled or showed any signs that suggested that he thought he had been completely forgiven it might anger the gathered crowd of citizens and cause more problems. He chose instead to simply nod his head in acknowledgement of his king's command as he stood back up.

He slowly walked up the stairs side by side with Sailor Jupiter and went to the left side of the platform to take a position beside Sailors Uranus, Neptune and Venus. Sailor Jupiter in turn took a position on the right side to stand with Sailors Mercury, Saturn and Mars. Sailor Pluto was not present at the congregation as she had returned to her sacred duty of guarding the Door of Time.

When Sean and Sailor Jupiter had finished taking each of their respectful positions with the rest of the Sailors the large wooden doors of the throne room opened again. Two royal guards appeared through the expanding gap between the giant dark brown panels as they escorted a black robed individual down the central aisle.

It was clear from the dark garbed person's body language that he was not here by choice. He twisted and turned as he struggled to break free of the guards' firm grasp on his upper arms. As he was forced down the aisle he screamed and swore loudly at the guards holding him, various members of the crowd around him and anyone else that managed to get his attention. His heavily bandaged arms could be seen as they popped out of the long sleeves of the black robe he was wearing as he continued to futilely try to break free of the guards' grasp on him. His hands were still missing and were an everlasting sign of what had occurred during the final battle. Sean couldn't suppress the feeling of surprise he felt as he recognized the person being escorted by the guards. He didn't regret what he had done to him but he did feel a small pang of pity for the intense pain he must have felt when the symbiote took his hands. He whispered the man's name as the guards drew nearer to his position.

"Aldrich."

As the guards and their prisoner drew closer Sean noticed that Aldrich's wardrobe was different. He was no longer dressed in the oversized jacket and hood or any of the other articles of clothing that he had remembered him wearing during the final battle. He was now draped in a simple black robe with a hood that looked to be made from cheap cloth like what a poor or homeless person might have worn back during the Second age of humanity. It appeared to be worn and well used with several small tears and holes in various parts of it. The hood of the robe was hanging over his head but as he continued to futilely struggle against the royal guards holding him it would jerk upwards to offer brief glimpses of his face.

As they neared the bottom of the first staircase Sailor Uranus and Saturn proceeded to move down the steps to intercept them. When the guards finally reached the end of the red carpet they physically forced Aldrich down onto his knees. Sailor Uranus produced her Space Sword Blaster from its usual place inside her waist scabbard as her feet touched the crimson rug. She took a position behind Aldrich to his left while Sailor Saturn stood behind him to the right. She lowered her Silence Glaive and placed the curved part of the larger of the two blades near the side of the Aldrich's neck. Sailor Uranus in turn did the same thing with her Space Sword. It was meant to be an intimidating gesture to show that they were in complete control and any aggressive movement from Aldrich would result in his immediate death.

He didn't seem to be fazed in the slightest by the pair of blades positioned near his neck. He didn't turn or tilt his head to look down at either of the razor-sharp weapons but it was unlikely that he could not at least see the tips of them in the bottom of his peripheral vision. After a few seconds he lifted his head and tilted it upward so that he was looking directly at Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endyimon. From their position on the first platform Sean and the others could see a malevolent sneer directed at them and their leaders from the dark shadows that partially filled the space underneath the hood.

It was a little unsettling to Sean to see the Sailors resorting to such extreme and aggressive measures especially after the queen's royal decrees about no killing and treating everyone with respect and dignity. However he knew that they couldn't take any chances with such a dangerous enemy being so close to the royal couple. If Aldrich were to launch any sort of attack at them there was little chance of them escaping completely unscathed or the Sailors being able to react in time to protect them. Depending on the intensity of the attack and the degree of damage it would inflict an incident like that could prove disastrous to the future of Crystal Tokyo and the prophesized promise of peace on Earth. Sean shook his head to clear his mind as Neo-Queen Serenity began to speak.

"Aldrich Reid. You have been charged and found guilty of multiple crimes against the kingdom of Crystal Tokyo. Among the charges are conspiracy to commit murder attempted regicide and multiple counts of unlawful destruction of private property. Do you have anything to say in your defence?

From his kneeling position between Sailors Uranus and Saturn Aldrich lifted his head a little bit higher as he looked up at benevolent ruler of this realm. From their vantage points several feet above him the Sailors and Sean could see that his mouth had twisted into a sneer as the queen's question hung in the air of the throne room. After a few seconds he responded with a clear tone of defiance in his voice.

"Do you see how nearly your kingdom fell apart with one small push from me? Your foolish dream of peace on this planet is nothing but a house of cards. One day someone like me will come and finish what I have started. You can't change what this world really is no matter how much you believe in the pathetic concepts of love and justice."

The reaction to Aldrich's ominous threat was clear in all of the Sailors and royal couple. Their faces' physically hardened as each of their lips tightened into thin lines. Their bodies tensed up as they fought back the disgust they all felt at his total disrespect for his actions and the misery he had caused. Sailor Uranus and Saturn maintained their composure and kept their weapons close to his neck. Neo-Queen Serenity meanwhile remained unfazed by his threat and continued her public trial of him when he finished.

"Our brightest scientific minds have been unable to remove the unholy and demonic powers that you possess. When added with your clearly unrepentant attitude towards your recent actions it has been determined that you will always be a threat to the safety and prosperity of Crystal Tokyo. However the crimes you have committed have not been limited to just the people of this kingdom. By your own confession you have committed various heinous offenses against the people of Earth for many years. You have done this from afar by choosing to control and manipulate other people to do your bidding while all the while remaining in the shadows like the coward you truly are. You have been a _phantom_ who has willfully brought _death_ and misery to anyone and everyone who has crossed your path."

Neo-Queen Serenity paused as she let her words settle with every one present in her court. She closed her eyes as she internally searched for the strength to complete what she knew she had to. Her mind reached back to the memories from many years ago when she as Sailor Moon and the Inner Sailors had fought against the Black Moon clan. Their leader had been a near omnipotent being that had referred to itself as the Death Phantom. She knew just as her friends did, that this was the exact moment that would later lead to the creation of the Black Moon clan but she was powerless to stop it. She and every member of the Inner Sailors knew that Aldrich Reid was destined to become the Death Phantom and lead the Black Moon clan against Crystal Tokyo at some point in the distant future. However her decree that forbad killing and executions had left her with only one option and she couldn't make an exception even when she knew it could avoid the possible Black Moon war in the centuries to come. She took a deep breath as she steadied her shoulders and readied herself for the final part.

"With you still in possession of your supernatural powers you have been deemed too dangerous to try to imprison or contain as your very presence would cause our kingdom to constantly live in fear of you or inspire others to follow your ideologies. Therefore it has been decided by this court that you will be banished for all eternity from Crystal Tokyo and the planet Earth. You will be sent to the tenth planet of our Solar System known as the Dark Moon."

With the completion of her sentence she raised her hands above her head. In the open space between her hands she summoned the Silver Moon Crystal from its resting place in the Prayer Chamber that was located in the center of the Crystal Palace. It filled the throne room with its brilliant radiance upon its sudden appearance and continued to glow with a bright white aura as it patiently awaited Neo-Queen Serenity's command. The Inner Sailors waited on baited breath for what they knew was about to occur. They had also recalled the past battle against the Death Phantom and the future consequences that exiling people from the Earth would lead to just like Neo-Queen Serenity. However they knew that their queen had no choice. As their queen had just publicly stated they couldn't take the risk of trying to contain Aldrich in either some form of suspended animation or medically induced coma as his mere presence could insight or inspire people to either follow his beliefs or attempt to free him. At least with his exile they would be granted a few centuries of peace before he returned as the Death Phantom. They could use that time to prepare themselves for what was to come by using the advantage of their advanced knowledge of future events to better equip themselves against the impending Black Moon clan's forces and armaments.

"Silver Moon Crystal. I command you to send this vile criminal to the far reaches of our Solar System. Banish him to the planet void of the Sun's light forever."

The crystal began to rapidly pulse like a strobe light and its radiant glow intensified to a near blinding degree. Many of the people in the crowd covered their faces with their hands and arms while others turned their heads to the side and closed their eyes as their faces looked down towards the floor.

Sailor Uranus and Saturn took a couple of steps back to avoid being caught inside the radius of the Silver Moon Crystal's power. They kept their weapons trained at the ready in case Aldrich attempted to flee or launch an attack at Neo-Queen Serenity in a last ditch effort to halt his permanent exile. As the light became even brighter they too were forced to close their eyes and use their other enhanced senses to keep tabs on the evil man kneeling in front of them.

The scream of defiance from Aldrich that had started when the crystal had begun to power up continued until it began to fade away as he disappeared inside the center of the blinding light. After about ten seconds the crystal's luminance began to dim as it started to quickly power down. Aldrich's scream continued to diminish away as well getting more and more echoic until it was finally completely gone. When everyone in the throne room looked back to the spot where he had been all that was left was a single puff of white smoke that slowly billowed upwards towards the ceiling. From her place high above Neo-Queen Serenity slowly lowered her hands as the Silver Moon Crystal disappeared and returned to its resting place in the Prayer room.

There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence that passed through the grand chamber as everyone took in what had just happened. The threat of Aldrich Reid was now over and they could let go of the fear that he had filled them with since his existence. However there was still one more issue that needed to be addressed.

King Endyimon loudly cleared his throat as signal that he wanted everyone to pay attention to what was going to happen next. He looked down directly at Sean and gestured with his right hand that he wanted him to stand before him. Sean could avoid the nervous swallow he instinctively did as he steadied his shoulders and stood up straight. He calmly stepped out from behind Sailor Neptune and casually strode to the middle of the platform. He turned on his heel like a member of a military marching parade when he reached the center so that he was facing the king and queen. His final act was to drop down to one knee and lower his head just he had done when he had entered the throne room minutes earlier.

He was sure that he was about to be banished as well since they couldn't separate him from his powers either. The collective concern shared by the majority of the city's citizens that the 'spell' on his symbiote could be broken again and make everyone in Crystal Tokyo pay for foolishly keeping it on Earth was something that King Endyimon and Neo-Queen Serenity could not ignore. He did not want to leave Sailor Jupiter and wanted more than anything to see his daughter grow up into the beautiful woman he knew she would become. However he couldn't defy the mandate of the two people he had pledged eternal allegiance to. He had to accept his fate for what he had done and all the pain he had caused no matter how agonizing it would be for him personally. The one small positive thing that his exile would allow if he too was sent to the Dark Moon was that he could ensure that Aldrich never found his way back to Earth and thus possibly prevent the Black Moon clan's formation as he lived out his death sentence. It was certainly not what he wanted but if it was destined to happen he would make the most of it.

"The warrior known as Carnage you have been charged with numerous crimes including public defacement, in-sighting civil unrest and multiple counts of second degree murder. Do you have anything to say in your defence?"

Sean remained silent for a few seconds as he collected his thoughts. He desperately wanted to plead his case and beg for clemency to avoid being separated forever from his wife and unborn child by solely blaming Aldrich for corrupting him. However he knew that was not entirely true. The curse on his symbiote had been already eroding away before Aldrich's arrival. The evil mystic had merely just sped the process up. Eventually the symbiote would have been released from the magical enchantment and the resulting death and destruction would still be on his hands. He could not ignore what he truly was as it wasn't a part of who he was and wanted to be again. He lifted his head and looked up at King Endyimon who was looking down at him as he awaited his answer.

"I will not make any excuses for my actions and for what I am. I have done terrible things against the innocent people of this great city and deserve the harshest punishment that this court can invoke. I can sincerely say with all my heart that I do not wish nor want to be separated from my wife and unborn daughter but I will still willfully accept the court's decision as to what my fate should be."

The throne room fell silent as Sean's words sunk in with everyone present. They were heartfelt and reflected the image of the warrior that he had been and the opinion of what many people had thought of him before this crisis had begun. King Endyimon glazed over the large mass of people standing before him and took in the general consensus that he felt from them.

"Your respect and honour towards this kingdom is both appreciated and graciously accepted. The many years you have dedicated to bravely protecting this planet and its people are also deeply appreciated and are something to hold in the highest regard. However recent events still cannot be ignored and thus must be considered."

Sean did not say anything in response and the room quickly fell into a deathly silence as everyone awaited King Endyimon's next words. There were many people in the crowd that quietly hoped that the king would show mercy towards the warrior they knew only as Carnage. He had been nothing but kind to them or their neighbours during the few years that they had known him and the supplies he had brought back from his missions had helped many of them in the difficult process of adjusting to their new lives in this strange and unfamiliar land that they did not recognize. Despite all the horrible things he had done and the great sadness he had caused to so many of their friends and fellow citizens they still did not want him to suffer the same fate as that monster, Aldrich Reid.

"Since you were corrupted by the actions of the criminal Aldrich Reid and the terrible events that followed were not of your own free will, it would seem unjust to harshly punish someone for something they could not control by any reasonable means. To that end it has been decided by this court that you will be given the choice to remain either here in Crystal Tokyo or be exiled to the Dark Moon. However it must be stated that if you decide to stay and serve this kingdom, there will be certain conditions that will be put into place and that these regulations are non-negotiable."

King Endyimon paused for a few seconds to allow the crowd to realize that he was beyond serious about the stipulations that Sean's decision to stay in Crystal Tokyo would entail if he choose that path. When he felt that his point had been delivered successfully he took a deep breath and continued.

"If you choose to stay in Crystal Tokyo you will be forbidden by this court to use the name Carnage or his image ever again. You will also be subject to routinely scheduled purifications by Neo-Queen Serenity and the Silver Moon Crystal to ensure that the evil nature of your symbiote is kept permanently suppressed and therefore can never gain control over you and your body ever again. It should also be noted that Sailor Jupiter and your unborn daughter will also be subject to these purifications as a result of their personal interactions with your symbiote."

Sean bit his lower lip in response to the king's declaration. His mind was a frenzy of thoughts and emotions as he went over what had just been said. He couldn't believe what was happening and what was being offered to him. Despite everything he had done and the public outcry he was sure had occurred that called for him to be severely punished King Endyimon and Neo Queen Serenity were still going to grant him a significant degree of leniency. However that show of mercy still had its price.

He knew that he would have to endure years of nervous looks, vicious gossip and the intense scrutiny of everything he did as the people of the kingdom slowly adjusted to having him walk freely among them after everything that had occurred. He also knew that there would be a significant physical and mental toll on Sailor Jupiter and their daughter as they would get those same looks and treatment because of their relationship with him. The routine purifications were something that he would have expected and requested himself if they hadn't been mandated by King Endyimon already. Now that he knew and understood what he truly was he would do anything to keep the monster inside him locked up forever.

He turned his head and looked over towards where Sailor Jupiter was standing. He looked into her green eyes and felt the love that she had for him flow into his body and fill him with a warmth that he never thought he would ever experience again.

As they stared lovingly at each other he silently asked her if she was ok with having to be frequently purified along with their daughter as a result of their intimate connection to him. He could instantly tell by the way her eyes quickly softened and how her lips gently quivered that she had understood what he had just asked her. Her response was to nod her head and give him a small but warm smile. When he got her answer he knew instantly what he wanted to do.

"My king. I wish to stay in Crystal Tokyo. I want the chance to redeem myself to its citizens by renewing my vow to protect this kingdom and everyone that lives under its banner. I know that it will be a long and difficult journey but it is one that I will amiably accept."

"I am pleased to hear you say that for there is one final thing that needs to be done."

Sean and the rest of people inside the room watched as King Endyimon proceeded down the flight of stairs which led down to the first platform. When he reached the bottom he stopped about a couple of feet from Sean and waited as Neo-Queen Serenity followed him down the steps and took a position behind him. Sean looked up at his king from his kneeling position with a somewhat confused look on his face as he waited to see what King Endyimon had meant by his last comment.

"As you are all well aware I am the appointed representative and defender of this planet. In my former role as prince of the Earth I took on that role because I would not allow one of my subjects to shoulder the burden of protecting my realm. As a result of my decision I was given an eternal star seed and become one with the Earth on a physiologically level so that I could both nurture and defend it from any threat. However in my current position as King of Crystal Tokyo it has made fulfilling those sacred duties very difficult.

Therefore I have decided to appoint you as the new emissary of Earth. You will be endowed with all the abilities and gifts I received but you will not be given an eternal star seed as it is not within our power to grant such a precious gift. Your life signs will be synchronized with Earth's. This will mean that when this planet is in pain you will be too. When it is in danger you will bravely and courageously rise to meet the menace that is behind it. The one question I ask of you is do you willingly accept these responsibilities that I am bestowing upon you?"

Sean was completely floored by the honour that was being given to him. It had never occurred to him that this would even be a possibility. He continued to look up at King Endyimon with his mouth slightly open as he couldn't bring himself to think of any sort of appropriate verbal response. He instinctively looked over at Sailor Jupiter and her expression matched his.

She was looking at him with a look of absolute surprise and shock and it told him that this promotion for lack of a better word was completely unplanned and that no one other than perhaps Neo-Queen Serenity had known about it. She had her hands up and her fingers clasped tightly together like she was praying to some invisible divine being. Her eyes were alive with hope as she silently encouraged him to accept the offer being presented to him. He nodded his head at her before turning back to look up at the king.

"I do. I accept the title and duties of being this planet's chosen warrior."

King Endyimon smiled proudly as he held out his hands with the palms facing upwards. In a sudden flash of light a large broadsword appeared and rested on its side across his open hands. He looked down at the sword and then back at Sean before quietly clearing his throat. In the quiet atmosphere of the room the sound carried all way to the last rows of gathered citizens.

"This is the Sword of Gaia. It was forged from metal found in the deepest part of the Earth's crust. It is a gift from our mother planet to its chosen protector for use in its defence against any who dare threaten it. I once used this weapon to protect this planet and the Moon Kingdom in its final day. I am now entrusting it to you. As long as it is in your possession, the soul of the Earth will be safe."

King Endyimon outstretched his hands and offered the sword to Sean. He hesitated for a second before reaching up and taking the sword and grasping the thick leather bound handle with his left hand. As the weapon passed from King Endyimon to Sean a surge of radiant golden light flared up and proceeded to completely engulf Sean. It encased him in its gentle aura as the abilities and gifts indicated by King Endyimon passed into him before it began to dim and finally disappear after a minute or two.

When it was done Sean stood up and stood eye-to-eye with King Endyimon. He held the sword and turned the blade so that it faced down and away from the king before switching it over to his right hand. He held the sacred blade against the side of his right hip with the hilt of the sword resting along the right side of his waist. As soon as the sword physically touched him the symbiotic skin reacted as it reached out with dozens of thin tendrils.

They quickly intertwined together to form a red scabbard that completely encased the sword's shiny blade. However symbiote was far from done in terms of its dramatic show. The living red and black skin abruptly stopped its constant flow of movement and the scabbard became one solid colour of red.

As soon as the sword was safely inside its new case a long red and black cape sprouted from the top of Sean's shoulders and fell down behind him. The cape was red on the outside and black inside. It hung down and came to a rest just above the back of his ankles. The symbiote did a remarkable job of replicating the cape from its organic tissue as it fluttered and gently moved with Sean's body movements just like if it had been made out of actual fabric. At the same time the stunning cape formed behind him a pair of black armoured guards that covered the top of each shoulder suddenly materialized from the alien tissue. These 'sodes' were oval-shaped and decorated with various elaborate patterns formed by the strategic placing of the symbiote's dominant red colour. The armoured pads protruded out beyond the length of the shoulder and came together to form a sharp point at its tip.

The red symbiotic skin covering his chest became noticeably thicker as it became one solid piece of plate armour that resembled what the ancient Japanese samurai had called a Nanban dō gusoku. Just like the shoulder guards the organic armour was decorated with a simple design that was etched out in thick blackened lines of alien tissue. A pair of red 'haidates' or thigh guards formed at the bottom of the armoured chest piece and covered Sean's abdomen before continuing down to cover the top and middle of each thigh. They each had a triangular appearance which ended with a sharp point like the shoulder guards. The haidate's point was positioned on the outside of the leg and curved around the shape of the thigh so that it did not interfere with Sean's leg movements when he either walked or ran.

To finish off the stunning transformation a pair of red suneates— vertical armoured plates—formed from the organic tissue to cover Sean's lower legs. These armour components covered both knees and extended down to the tops of the ankles. Unlike the chest and shoulder pieces there were no designs engraved into their outer surfaces. His feet retrained the black dress boots that he had formed as part of his original attire when he first entered the throne room and merged successfully with the new appearance he had just undergone. In the open spaces between the various armoured pieces the symbiote became black in colour as if Sean was wearing a 'hakama' or pants and a 'shitagi' or long sleeved shirt as possible homages to the samurai warriors of ancient Japan.

Everyone in the crowd remained silent as they watched the breath-taking transformation take place. It lasted only about a minute or two but it felt like time had completely slowed down. When the metamorphosis was finally over the warrior that they had once been known as Carnage was no more. In his place stood a strong young man clad in armour and a long flowing cape. It seemed surreal to many of them as it brought up images of characters from many old fairy tales that they had enjoyed reading when they were children. To the Sailors, and especially King Endyimon himself, Sean's appearance was almost identical to the armour that he had once worn when he had been known as Prince Endyimon almost eleven millennia ago and again more recently when he had been a brain-washed servant of the Dark Kingdom.

Sean locked eyes with King Endyimon and placed his right hand over the left part of his chest as a sign that he was going to speak from the heart. When he spoke his words were filled with a tone that filled with both sincerity and confidence.

"I pledge to you that I will defend this planet and its people from any peril until my final breath. I cannot change what I am that of a merger of human and alien together but I swear to you and everyone present here today, I will use my powers to ensure that Earth will never feel the fear and despair caused by monsters such as Aldrich Reid ever again. I also do solemnly swear that I will do whatever I must to repair the damage done by the spectre of Carnage and restore the people of Crystal Tokyo's faith in me and their protectors. The warrior known as Carnage is no more you may now call me Hybrid."

"And so it shall be. Citizens of Crystal Tokyo it is my honour and privilege to present to you Earth's new representative and the first knight of the Crystal Kingdom, Hybrid."

The crowd exploded into a chorus of thunderous applause. Comments of praise and encouragement could be heard as they were shouted above the roaring sound of the cheers and clapping. Up on the platform above them the Sailors moved to congratulate and embrace their friend and teammate. Hugs of excitement and appreciation were given to him by the female warriors and a hearty handshake from King Endyimon.

When it was Sailor Jupiter's turn he took her in his arms and they shared a deep passionate kiss in front of their friends and fellow citizens. The emotionally moving scene of their embrace caused a new surge of applause to engulf the crowd and they continued to cheer, whistle and give kudos to their newest protector until the grand event was finally declared over a short time later.

End of Chapter 12…


	14. Epilogue

Epilogue

In the days and weeks that followed the exile of Aldrich Reid and the creation of the kingdom's newest guardian, known as Hybrid, the realm of Crystal Tokyo began to slowly return to its usual daily activities and began to prosper and flourish once again. Travelling nomads and people seeking sanctuary and protection continued to migrate into the kingdom's domain as the rumours and stories of the peaceful haven it provided kept on spreading throughout the land.

The physical damage to the buildings caused by Carnage and the Sailors' valiant efforts to subdue him had been quickly repaired by the numerous civilian contractors and builders during the three weeks that he had imprisoned himself down in the detention area beneath the Crystal Palace. Across the city, the emotional scars left by the destruction however were taking far longer to heal. Not surprisingly, the feeling of safety and sense of protection that the citizens had once enjoyed within the kingdom's boundaries had been seemingly shattered forever as they all now lived with the constant fear that another monster would find its way into their city and bring death and suffering along with it. It would take many more months to pass by with no threat appearing before the majority of the people would able to let themselves relax and finally let go of that concern which allowed them to live in complete peace once again.

Hybrid had remained true to his vow to do whatever was necessary to redeem himself in the eyes of the people that he had pledged to protect. Every chance he got in the weeks and months following the grand assembly at the palace, he would offer his assistance in whatever way he could for the betterment of the city's population.

One of the first things he had done was to initiate the cleanup and the eventual re-opening of the convenience store that had been the site of the most horrific of his recent crimes. During his three week self-imposed imprisonment the bodies of the unfortunate victims that had fallen during that incident had been removed and given proper burials by their family members but nothing else had occurred at the location since then. None of the owner's surviving kin had been able to go inside the store without breaking down into fits of intense fits of sadness or anger as the memories and thoughts of their fallen father, uncle, brother and husband overwhelmed them every single time.

As Hybrid had been expecting there had been significant reluctance and even more than a little animosity from the victims' families and the civilians of the surrounding neighbourhood when he first appeared in the area and began the physically and emotionally taxing task of personally cleaning up the interior of the store by himself in order to bring it back to where it had been before he had defiled it with his evil actions.

At first it had just been him working from dawn to dusk using basic tools and cleaning agents to sterilize the store's interior. Over time Sailor Jupiter and/or other Sailor team members began to pitch in to assist him with the restoration process.

Eventually the civilians began to see the depth and level of his commitment to undoing what he had been done and repairing the legacy that the fallen storeowner had created for his family and the people in the neighbourhood. Seeing this person who had been pardoned by the queen of the kingdom slave day after day with no complaining or personal reward caused the general population's reactions to soften as they saw that he was honestly seeking penance for what he had done and was living up to the promise he had made to all of them when King Endyimon and Neo-Queen Serenity spared his life by not exiling him to die on the Dark Moon.

When the store was finally refurbished and the store contents restocked with unspoiled produce and items Hybrid, Sailor Jupiter and the rest of the Sailor team returned it to family members of the owner. On that day, the storekeeper's widow shook his hand as he passed the keys to the front and back doors of the shop to her. It was a powerful symbolic gesture that showed to everyone that Hybrid was not the same entity that had killed her husband and the others. It also showed to Hybrid that the people were willing to forgive him and put their trust in him again.

Approximately two years after the exile of Aldrich and on her 22nd birthday Neo-Queen Serenity was finally able to unite the entire Earth into one single kingdom again under her and King Endyimon's benevolent rule. However that was not the end of the great news for the citizens of the Crystal Kingdom.

On the very same day that the Earth became whole once again the queen gave birth to her first and only daughter Usagi Tsukino. Even though the new princess of Crystal Tokyo may have been given the same name of her mother's former civilian identity but she would soon be known by the informal monikers 'Small Lady' or 'Chibiusa' depending on who was addressing her at the time.

As a birthday present and ultimate reward to Neo-Queen Serenity for accomplishing the fabled prophecy of reuniting the Earth Kingdom the Silver Moon Crystal granted every current and future citizen of the Crystal Kingdom the remarkable gift of a Lunarian lifespan. In the distant past, the Lunarians were what the ancient people of Earth had named the beings that had lived on the moon during the time of the Silver Millennium. This meant that everyone that was living or would be living under the rule of Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endyimon would have their lifespans extended so that they would now last one thousand years. As an extension of that this also meant that the Earth's population would essentially stop at their current age and mature at an extremely slow rate.

It was discovered that the way the crystal's gift worked with any children born after the fact or children that were under the age of eighteen at the time of the gift's inception was to have them continue to age normally until they reached the age of maturity. Once that occurred they would become like their parents and be eternally young and strong for the reminder of their life.

While the kingdom's historians would consider the birth of Small Lady and the ultimate unification of the Earth into one collective kingdom as the official starting points of the Crystal Millennium it was the birth of Hybrid and Sailor Jupiter's daughter that marked the beginning of the next generation of Sailor warriors for the Milky Way galaxy. She was born six months after Aldrich's attempted take-over of Crystal Tokyo and the corruption of the hero, Carnage. Sailor Mercury had been the one to deliver the child with Hybrid and Sailor Neptune looking on and coaching Sailor Jupiter.

They named her Tera Estmund which roughly translated to Earth protector of beauty. Everyone who met her fell in love with her as she loved people and would laugh and smile whenever she heard a voice or met someone new. As she grew older and more into her body she became the splitting image of her mother by inheriting her dark brown hair, bright green eyes and uncommon height as she reached 5'8 by the age of thirteen.

She also became an exceptional athlete by participating in some of activities that her 'aunts' excelled in. These included sports such as skiing which Sailor Mars taught her, Sailor Venus' former hobby of volleyball and figure skating which was her mother's hidden passion. Her natural athletic ability and grace made it easy for her to perfect and honed the specific skills required in each of these activities to near-Olympic caliber which combined with the expert coaching of her older mentors.

When Chibiusa was born about a year and a half after her Tera took an intense shine to her and simply loved being around her. She would spend any of her free time that wasn't already committed to family or other activities and quietly watch her sleep or play with her if she was awake. Chibiusa in turn enjoyed being with Tera as well as her rose coloured eyes would light up when she saw Tera or heard her voice. As both of them got older their friendship continued to mature and they became best friends along with Sailor Saturn who was the youngest of the original Sailor soldiers and who Chibiusa had befriended during her original time-travelling adventure to the 21st century during the events of the Black Moon war which hadn't occurred yet in this time period. Later on, the three of them would add Chibiusa's personal guardians the Sailor Quartet to their close knit circle of friends when the princess of Crystal Tokyo became the new Sailor Moon, to form the next generation of Sailor warriors.

When Tera turned fourteen she told her parents about her deep desire to become a Sailor warrior like her friends, her 'aunts' and especially, her mother. She wanted the chance to have an audience with Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endyimon to see if it was her destiny to be like them as her birthday present. Her parents could not say no to her and passed on her request to the royal couple. To no one's surprise her petition was accepted as they could not deny her either.

A few days later Tera stood before Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endyimon with her mother and father standing beside her and her best friends a short distance behind her. Up in front of them, the rest of the Sailors except Sailor Pluto stood on the first platform and silently watched with pride as their 'adopted niece' prepared to take the first steps towards her destiny. Tera dropped down to one knee and lowered her head so that she was looking down at the ground in front of her. Her action mirrored what her father had done several years before when he had knelt before the king and queen following the 'Aldrich Crisis'. She was silent for several seconds before slowly lifting her head and looking up at the royal couple.

"My Queen and King. I have come here today to ask you to allow me the chance to become the first ever Sailor representative for the planet Earth. It is known that the laws of the universe had decreed that only women can become Sailor warriors and that each planet or astral body can have only one such representative.

Those same laws have also declared that the crystals that give a Sailor warrior her powers will be forever tied to the planet or stellar mass that they were born on and that Sailor star crystals can only be passed down from mother to daughter. Since my mother is a Sailor warrior there is a strong possibility that I have a star seed inside me and since I was born on Earth my crystal would be bound to this planet and thus make me the only person who could become Sailor Earth."

Above her and beside her the older Sailors and her mother each silently remembered when they had first become Sailor warriors back during their previous lives in the time of the Silver Millennium. What Tera had said had been accurate as each of their biological mothers had once been the Sailor advocate of their respective planet before passing the duty onto them just as their grandmother had decades earlier. Each of them had been born on their individual home world so their crystals were forever bound to them but any future offspring that they had would be like Tera as they would be born on Earth. It was unclear to them, even to Sailor Mercury, whether any Sailor crystals passed down to any future daughters would be forever tied to the Earth if Tera did become the Sailor Warrior for the planet and remained so at the time of their respective births.

"It is public record that my father the guardian known as Hybrid, was bestowed with a partial transfer of power from you, King Endyimon, during his identity reinvention. It is also openly known that Chibiusa was born in the new Moon Castle on the moon so that is why she is able to be the new Sailor Moon. Therefore it stands to reason that your Sailor crystal, Neo-Queen Serenity, has evolved to a higher level in your current role which allowed Chibiusa to become the Sailor advocate for the moon. By that same token the golden crystal that King Endyimon possesses which is tied to this planet might have also similar advanced and allow for someone like myself to become its new chosen warrior."

Tera finished her petition and waited for the response from the ruling couple of the Crystal Kingdom. She had said everything that she had wanted to say and it was now up to them.

High above her King Endyimon and Neo-Queen Serenity remained silent as they thought about her request and what it would mean for the future of their kingdom. They were understandably reluctant at first because they didn't want to burden someone that they loved dearly with the responsibilities that being a Sailor warrior would entail especially when they knew that dangerous threats like the Black Moon War were coming. However neither of them could find any fault in her reasoning. They both looked down at the young girl kneeling before them and saw the intense determination in her young eyes staring back at them. They both mentally noted how much her eyes looked just like her mother's and they simply couldn't bring themselves to deny her application when they considered her impressive qualifications and the fact that she was after all, the prodigy of two physically exceptional warriors and had demonstrated on numerous occasions that she possessed a level of maturity and compassion that would make her an excellent example for the people of Earth.

"Very well… we will grant you your request. Let us first see if you do indeed possess a star seed with an eternal shine."

Neo-Queen Serenity stood up from her throne and raised her hands above her head. She silently called out to the Silver Moon Crystal and summoned it to her from its place in the Chamber of Prayer. In the span of a few seconds the tiny spherical crystal appeared in the open space between her hands and filled the throne room with its impossibly bright radiance.

Almost the crystal's power began to react to the Sailor crystals in all of the Sailor guardians, including the ones in Chibiusa and her guardians. Each of them became surrounded by an aura of light that was shaded with their dominant colour. Tera turned her head to the right and looked at her mother as she became bathed in the light green glow of her star seed.

Her emerald eyes locked with her mother's and there was a moment of awe on her part as she looked upon at what she desperately wanted to become a Sailor warrior like her. Sailor Jupiter looked at her daughter and saw the profound desire and admiration that filled her young eyes. She smiled at her and silently mouthed a single word to her.

"Look…"

Tera saw her mother say the word but was confused by it at first. What was she supposed to look at? She had not indicted any direction for her to look in and the room was deathly silent except for the breathing of everyone present and the dull sounds of people moving around outside the throne room.

She started to move her right hand to make a subtle physical gesture to tell her that she did not understand her simple message when her eyes caught something. She tilted her head down and stared at both of her hands and the rest of her body. It took a few seconds for her brain to register what she was seeing but when it finally did a loud gasp escaped her lips.

Her entire body was engulfed in a white light that was pure as new fallen snow and almost perfectly matched the colour of Neo-Queen Serenity's dress. It took her a few seconds to understand what the realization of what this meant. It rapidly warmed the insides of her body as it confirmed what she had so feverishly hoped for. She had indeed been gifted with an eternal Sailor crystal and thus could become a Sailor warrior like the others.

Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endyimon both smiled at her as they like everyone else took in the sight. Behind her she heard Chibiusa clap her hands together and loudly squeal with glee. Beside her Sailor Pallas cooed in awe as the other members of the Sailor quartet watched on in silence. Their faces were reflections of the pride and happiness they felt for their best friend at achieving her dream.

In a ceremony that dated back to a time that far pre-dated the ancient Moon Kingdom of the Silver Millennium Neo-Queen Serenity used the Silver Moon Crystal to activate the Sailor crystal inside Tera. As the crystal powered up, the white glow that surrounded her became brighter as she felt new surges of power and energy course through her as she gained the enhanced speed agility, strength and accelerated healing ability that her mother and 'aunts' had been granted quite literally, a lifetime ago.

Once that was completed it was time for the last part of the ceremony. Unlike her mother and 'aunts' this was something that they had not experienced before but was necessary as there was no pre-existing history for a Sailor representative of the planet Earth. That historical gap required Tera to choose the colours that would be designated to her uniform and the future Sailor representatives of Earth after her.

Tera was well aware of her father's dark history after having been teased for several years as a young child by some of her nastier school classmates. However she also knew about and had seen his numerous efforts to redeem his honour and the honour of his family in the eyes of the people of Crystal Tokyo as she had grown up. She couldn't imagine the strength and commitment he had to undertake such a burden after what he had done. But it was something that she couldn't properly put into words as to the level of admiration she had for him.

As she stood there surrounded by her parents, best friends and older mentors, she recalled the thousands of fond memories of her father and her playing together, going out on hikes through the forests and rolling hills around the kingdom and the overall bond that had developed between them through their mutual love of being physically active and playing sports.

It was because of those memories and her deep love for him that she decided to make red and black her official colours as homage to him and the hero that she saw him as. She closed her eyes and silently wished upon the love and warmth inside her heart to the Silver Moon Crystal to accept her decision. The tiny white stone that was floating above Neo-Queen Serenity flared out with a bright flash of light and quickly proceeded to completely engulf her in a wave of lustrous silvery light that was almost as intense as the aura surrounding the Silver Moon Crystal itself. Inside the vast open space of the throne room, the vivid display of magical energy lasted for about fifteen seconds before quickly fading away. When the blinding glare from crystal had dimmed down enough so that everyone present could see the epicenter of the supernatural demonstration Hybrid, Sailor Jupiter and everyone else either gasped loudly or silently stared as each them took in the sight of the newest member of the Sailor team and the very first Sailor Earth.

Tera's long brown hair remained tied back into a ponytail in exactly the same manner that her mother often wore hers. Seemingly untouched, the dark green hair ribbon that was also her trademark remained woven in her dark locks as her subtle way of honouring her mother who she idolized. She was now wearing knee high red boots that had a black rim at the top and another black line that ran from one side of the boot down to the top of her foot and back up the other side which gave it the appearance of the letter 'V'.

Her skirt now had a two tier colour pattern with red being the first layer and a pair of thin black and yellow stripes running along the bottom border of it. Under that layer was the second layer of her skirt. It was white which visually enhanced the bold red colour of the skirt's first level. On each arm she wore a long white glove that completely covered her forearms and were topped with red padding at the elbows. A thin red line encircled the gloves at her wrists like a bracelet.

Her chest and back bows were solid black and matched belt that she wore around her waist. The thin piece of solid leather had a gold brooch that was shaped like a crescent moon on the front of it. Her square shaped neck collar was red and had three white lines that ran along the outer edges of it. Her shoulders were covered with a short red sleeve with three folds that were similar to an accordion's.

Around her neck she wore a black choker with a red crescent moon on the front and a pair of silver star-shaped earrings that hung from her ears. A gold tiara with a bright red jewel that was partially covered by her brown hair completed the outfit. When compared to her "aunt", the shade of red that her uniform possessed was a lighter colour than the tint that was Sailor Mars' primary colour.

The other thing that caught the attention of everyone in the throne room was the accessory she was wielding. In her right hand was a medium sized sceptre that was red and black with a pair of white wings that extended out from the shaft near the top of it. For the Inner Sailors it looked very similar to the Moon sceptre that Neo-Queen Serenity had once used as Sailor Moon when they battled against first the Doom Tree and later the Black Moon clan.

"It is done. You are now the Sailor warrior for the planet Earth."

With the ceremony completed the Silver Moon Crystal disappeared and returned to its place in the Chamber of Prayer. Neo-Queen Serenity lowered her arms and sat back down upon her throne. She smiled as she watched her daughter rush towards and embrace her best friend with an enthusiastic hug as their other friends crowded around them. Sailor Jupiter and Hybrid took a few steps back to join up with the other Sailors as they all watched the young group of girls congratulate their friend and now fellow warrior. After a few minutes the girls' excitement began to die down. Neo-Queen Serenity cleared her throat to re-gain the attention of everyone in the throne room. In response, the older Sailors and Hybrid turned and looked up at her while the younger Sailors took a few more seconds to calm down and get into a line that faced her.

"Sailor Jupiter … Hybrid… It will be your responsible to train and guide her so that she can become a proper guardian of our kingdom and this planet that is duty to protect."

"I understand and accept those responsibilities, my queen."

"I agree with my husband and also accept that."

In the months that followed they fulfilled that duty by intensely training their daughter as well as Chibiusa in her identity as Sailor Moon and her four guardians, the Sailor Quartet. Through the different styles of instruction provided by them and the other Sailor team members each of the young warriors individually developed into a mature woman as well as a cohesive group of formidable warriors that would ensure the safety and prosperity of Crystal Tokyo for the centuries yet to come.

The End!


End file.
